Makis Asimakopoulos is a distinguished scientist and professional in sports management with over 30 years of experience. He got his Ph.D. in Sport Management from The Ohio State University, USA (1993), following his Master's degree in the same subject from Springfield College in Massachusetts (1989) and his degree in Physical Education from the Physical Education School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (1984). In addition to his extensive articles on sports issues in domestic newspapers, he has published articles in international scientific journals, has made presentations at many sports conferences and scientific bodies, and has co-authored books on sports management and the Marathon.
Above all, Makis Asimakopoulos is part of the Olympic Movement with a long tenure in leading administrative positions of major international games of the Movement, the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games, and the Special Olympics International. In 1996, he participated in the compilation team of the Athens Olympic Bid File, and then (2000-2004) he served as Sports General Director for the Olympic and Paralympic Games "ATHENS 2004". For this work, he was honored by the International Olympic Committee with the "OLYMPIC ORDER" (2004).
From 2006-2007, he actively participated in the bid of the Mediterranean Games "Volos-Larissa 2013," from 2008 to 2011, he was Head of Sports & Venues of the "Athens 2011" Special Olympics World Summer Games. His presence in the significant events of the Olympic Movement continued from 2013 to 2019 since, as a Sports Consultant of the European Olympic Committees, he participated in the supervision of the organization of the European Games held first in Baku, Azerbaijan (2015) and then in Minsk, Belarus (2019).
At an international level, Makis Asimakopoulos has also been a marketing associate of the World Boxing Federation (2005-2006), consultant for bid files of significant events in the USA and Qatar (2007-2009), Sports Manager of the "ATHENS 2007-2008" Europe Corporate Games (2007-2008) and partner of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) (2007-2019). He was the organizer of the AIMS Marathon Symposium and the Best Marathon Runner Award Gala on behalf of the above Association. Finally, from 2014 to 2017, he contributed as an advisor to the FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee in 2022 in Qatar.
At a national level, from 1993 to 1999, before his tenure at the Athens Olympic Games, Makis Asimakopoulos collaborated with a number of sports federations, organizations and events, while the peak period of his work in Greece is considered to be the post-Olympic fifteen years 2006-2021, when as General Director of the "Athens Marathon. The Authentic" he participated in its emergence as the largest annual international mass sport event in Greece and one of the largest and most important ones worldwide.
Makis Asimakopoulos is well known in the International Olympic Academy family since -in parallel with his postgraduate studies for the organization of the Olympic Games- from 1989 to 1992, he participated in the big annual International IOA Session for Young Participants, first as a participant and then as Discussion Group Coordinator. From 1996 to 2004, he visited the IOA many times after biding for and organizing the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. From 2005 until today, he gave lectures at the IOA at various conferences and at the IOA Master's Degree Programme in Olympic Studies. Additionally, over the last 20 years, he has worked very closely both with the current President of the IOA, Mr. Isidoros Kouvelos, on the occasion of the successful bidding for the 2013 Mediterranean Games and with the current HOC President, IOC Member and IOA Ephoria Member, Mr Spyros Capralos, under whose guidance he worked as a high-ranking executive at the Athens Olympics and in the first two editions of the European Games.
With the inclusion of Makis Asimakopoulos in its leadership team, the International Olympic Academy seeks both the long-term reinforcement of its statutory mission for the dissemination and promotion of the Olympic ideals and values, education, sports, and culture, as well as the successful implementation of the vision of its current leadership for the emergence of the IOA as a global educational center of the Olympic Movement. And this will be achieved through the fulfillment of its contemporary goals, which are the continuous renewal and qualitative enhancement of its facilities and services, the further significant thematic and temporal expansion of its educational programmes with the use of new technologies, and finally, the assurance of its financial self-sufficiency as a guarantee of its independent operation and stable development.
