Jerzy Pawłowski

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Jerzy Pawłowski (1968)

Jerzy Władysław Pawłowski (born October 25, 1932 in Warsaw , † January 11, 2005 ibid) was a Polish fencer who won five medals at the Olympic Games . After his career he was convicted in Poland of espionage for the USA .

Athletic career

Born in Warsaw in a family with patriotic traditions. In 1949 he started fencing training. In 1952 he was drafted into the army and began to train in the sports club of the army " Legia ". There he met the outstanding Hungarian coach Janos Kevey . In the same year he won the Polish championship in foil and started at the Olympic Summer Games in Helsinki . In 1956 at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne he won two silver medals, one of which was with the team (together with Marian Kuszewski , Zygmunt Pawlas , Andrzej Piątkowski , Wojciech Zabłocki and Ryszard Zub ). In 1957 at the World Championships in Budapest he won the gold medal by defeating Rudolf Kárpáti . In 1960 he and his team won the silver medal in the saber at the Summer Olympics in Rome (together with: Kuszewski, Piątkowski, Zub, Zabłocki, Emil Ochyra ). In 1964 at the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo , he won the bronze medal with the team. In 1968 he had his greatest success, a gold medal in fencing at the Summer Olympics in Mexico .

In addition to the Olympic Games, he won 19 medals at the World Championships, including seven gold medals ( 1957 , 1959 , 1961 , 1962 , 1963 , 1965 , 1966 ). He was also a 14-time Polish champion in saber and foil. In 1967 the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime named him the best fencer of all time. From 1970 to 1974 he was the President of the Polish Fencing Association. During this period he also finished his law studies at Warsaw University.

Twice (1957 and 1968) he was voted the best athlete of the year in Poland .

Extra sports activities

Since 1950 Jerzy Pawłowski was a secret employee of the Polish security service " Wojskowa Służba Wewnętrzna " and, according to some sources, a member of the Ministry of Public Security and the Służba Bezpieczeństwa PRL , to which he mainly provided social information about athletes.

Since 1964 he also worked with the CIA , which recruited him during a stay in the USA under the pseudonym "Paweł". Above all, he conveyed personal and social information to the Americans about people from the politico-military environment. In 1975 he was arrested in Poland on charges of espionage for the USA. On April 8, 1976, he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment and 10 years of loss of his civil rights and demoted from the rank of colonel to private . After 10 years he was released on a pardon. This happened as part of an agent exchange between the CIA and the KGB in Potsdam in 1985, where he was exchanged for Marian Zacharski . However, he decided to stay in Poland.

After his release, he returned to amateur fencing because he was banned from professional fencing. Towards the end of his life he dealt with painting, mainly landscape painting, and with bioenergy therapy .

He wrote the books: Trud olimpijskiego złota , Najdłuższy Pojedynek and Spowiedź szablisty ... .

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  • Piotr Pytlakowski, "Mistrz, który przegrał życie", Polityka nr 03/2005 (2487)

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Commons : Jerzy Pawłowski  - collection of images
personal data
SURNAME Pawłowski, Jerzy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pawłowski, Jerzy Władysław (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish fencer and spy
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw
DATE OF DEATH January 11, 2005
Place of death Warsaw