Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Greek: Νίκος Κακλαμανάκης, August 19, 1968, born in Athens) is the Greek Gold-medal winner who lit the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

One of the most popular athletes in Greece, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis is a three-time Mistral class windsurfing world champion and a gold medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Sailing. He won silver in the event at the 2003 World Championships in Cadiz, Spain, behind Przemek Miarczynski of Poland. In the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Kaklamanakis took the silver medal behind Gal Fridman of Israel.

Olympic medal record
Men's Sailing
Gold	1996 Atlanta	Windsurfing-Mistral
Silver	2004 Athens	Windsurfing-Mistral

Selected achievements

Medal	Event	Year
Gold	European Championship (Mistral)	1994
Bronze	IMCO World Championship	1995
Gold	Australasian Championship (Mistral)	1995
Gold	IMCO World Championship	1996
Gold	Atlanta Olympics	1996
Gold	Athens EUROLYMP	1998
Gold	Mistral World Championship	2000
Bronze	International ASA Windsurfing Championship	2001
Gold	Mistral World Championship	2001
Silver	ISAF World Championship	2003
Silver	Athens Olympics	2004

From Stigmes:

When we mentioned that we are from Crete, his eyes sparkled and he recited the following stanza:

«I wish I were a hawk at Sfakia, an eagle on mount Psiloritis, or even a wild goat in your ravines that I may enjoy you for ever, Crete»

The rhymed stanza, known as mantinada, used to be recited by Kaklamanakis' father, a native of Agios Vassilios, Rethymnon.

Links

Biography: International Sailing Federation (ISAF)

Lighting the Olympic cauldron