Stefanos Petrakis

Stefanos Petrakis took up track and field athletics while serving in the Greek Army during the country’s Civil War from 1946 through 1949. Despite being in his 20s, he rose to the top of the national athletics scene rapidly and was selected to represent his country at the 1948 Summer Olympics, competing in the 100, 200, and 400 metres races, as well as the 4x400 metres relay (alongside Vasilios Mavroidis, Lazaros Petropoulakis, and Stylianos Stratakos). He was eliminated in the opening round of all of those events, and had further bad luck in 1949 when an injury halted his training for most of the year. In 1951, however, he found his greatest successes when he won the 100 metre event at the inaugural Mediterranean Games and also took silver in the 4x100 metres relay.

Petrakis was again selected to represent Greece at the 1952 Summer Olympics, but was once more eliminated in round one of the 100 and 200 metre events. His final international competition was the 1955 Mediterranean Games, where he took home a silver medal in the 4x100 metres relay. He retired from active competition following this tournament and later had a career in municipal politics in his home country.

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.7 (1951); 200 – 21.8 (1959); 400 – unknown.