Mexico City, October 17, 1968, the Fernando Montes de Oca Fencing Hall. A thirty-five-year-old Pole and a Russian three years his junior face off in an additional bout for gold, having tied their final group standings. Jerzy Pawłowski defeats Mark Rakita 5:4 – by a single touch – and breaks a streak of nine consecutive Olympic Games won by Hungarians in individual sabre. Seven years later, the same man is arrested by military counter-intelligence, and on April 8, 1976, the Warsaw Military District Court sentences him to twenty-five years in prison for espionage on behalf of the CIA. This chapter is about both of those days and everything that can be documented in between.
I. TRENCH, SABRE, AND SIENKIEWICZ
He was born on October 25, 1932, in Warsaw, into a family with patriotic traditions. His father, Władysław, was a soldier of the Home Army during the occupation – according to Polish Radio, he served in the "Zośka" battalion. In 1944, twelve-year-old Jerzy carried food and cigarettes to the insurgents. During the evacuation near the Legia stadium, he was wounded in the face and lost sight in one eye – completely or almost completely; this was established by his biographer Wiktor Bołba. The fencer, who for a quarter of a century measured the distance to his opponent, did so with one eye.
He literally stumbled upon a weapon. While digging trenches, he found an officer's sabre. In 1948, he listened to radio reports from the London Olympics, and his most frequent reading was "The Trilogy." "I began to identify with Sienkiewicz's heroes: Kmicic, Skrzetuski, and Wołodyjowski. That's when the idea of becoming a fencer came into my head," he said in an interview with Polish Radio in 1974.
He started training on May 9, 1949, at ZKS Ogniwo in Warsaw. A year later, after twelve months of practice, he was already the Polish vice-champion – he lost in the final to Marian Suski, a pre-war Olympian. In 1952, he was conscripted into the army; he joined CWKS, today's Legia, and trained under Hungarian coach János Kevey. In the same year, he won the Polish championship in foil and went to the Olympics in Helsinki. Individually, he was eliminated in the quarter-final group; as a team, the Poles placed 5th–8th. He was twenty years old and had three seasons of training.
II. KEVEY: HUNGARIAN METHOD ON THE POLISH PISTE
The Polish sabre school did not come from nowhere – it came from Budapest. János Kevey, born in 1907, née Richter, academic world champion in sabre in 1930 and a graduate of military fencing schools in Wiener Neustadt, received the title of fencing professor at the Royal Hungarian Military Sports and Fencing School in 1935. By 1938, he was already working in Poland, and a year later, he was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta. In October 1947, he became the coach of the Polish sabre team and led it for eleven years.
His method was based on high mobility and several actions reduced to a minimum – contemporaries accused it of excessive tactical simplification. In 1952, he published the textbook "Sabre Fencing. Foundations of Modern Sabre Technique." In Poland, he was called "Jancsi Bácsi." In 1974, in a poll for the ten best coaches of the thirty-year period, he took fourth place.
The tally of his years with the national team is short and concrete: a team bronze medal at the World Championships in 1953, a world vice-championship in 1954, an Olympic silver medal in Melbourne in 1956, and team bronzes in 1957 and 1958. Additionally, two of Pawłowski's results pushed boundaries. In 1957 in Paris, he became the first Polish individual world champion in fencing. Two years later in Budapest, on the hosts' home ground, his victory over Rudolf Kárpáti – a three-time Olympic champion – clinched Poland's first-ever team world championship title. Kevey left the national team after 1958, following a conflict with athletes dissatisfied with the lack of gold at the World Championships, and went to coach in Italy.
III. ANATOMY OF THE SABRE: EIGHTY-EIGHT CENTIMETERS AND PRIORITY
The sport sabre is the shortest and lightest of the three Olympic weapons. According to the rules of the International Fencing Federation, the blade can be at most 88 centimeters, the entire weapon ready for combat – no more than 105 centimeters and 500 grams, with competition sabres usually weighing closer to four hundred. The guard consists of a knuckle-bow protecting the hand and fingers. It is the only cutting and thrusting weapon in this set: hits are scored with the edge, flat, and point, not exclusively with the tip.
The target area is cavalry in its logic: everything above the waist counts – torso, head, and arms to the wrist. Legs, hands, and feet are excluded, because in the imagination from which the sabre emerged, below the waist is the horse. Hence the tempo of this weapon. One hits what is closest, and the closest is the opponent's armed arm.
The second pillar is the convention of priority. In sabre and foil, a point does not belong to whoever hit faster, but to whoever had the right to hit. Priority is given by initiating an attack or parrying the opponent's weapon; the defender must first parry to regain the right to riposte. A counter-attack in the middle of someone else's offensive usually does not count at all. The entire bout therefore boils down to two factors: the distance at which you stand, and the tempo at which you enter. Whoever moves a quarter of a second too early gives up a point without hitting.
- Sabre – cut and thrust, target area above the waist including head and arms, priority applies. Fastest of the three disciplines.
- Foil – thrust only, target area limited to the torso, priority applies. Weapon length up to 110 centimeters and weight below 500 grams.
- Épée – thrust only, target area is the entire body, no priority. Simultaneous hits are valid if separated by no more than 40 milliseconds. Heaviest weapon: up to 770 grams.
The most important difference between Pawłowski's sabre and today's sabre, however, does not lie in the dimensions, but in the officiating. Electrical apparatus was introduced in épée in 1936, in foil in 1956, and in sabre only in 1988 – fifty-two and thirty-two years later. Pawłowski's entire career, all five Olympic medals, and all world championship titles, were decided by the human eye: the president of the bout and four side judges, who raised their hands when they saw a hit. There were no lights, no metallic vest, and no recording. There was a white uniform, a mesh mask, and five pairs of eyes. This explains why, in that era, a fencer's reputation was part of their equipment, not merely an embellishment – and why, in 1955 in Rome, Pawłowski reported a hit wrongly awarded to him, losing the bout and earning the nickname "gentleman of the piste."
IV. FIVE MEDALS AND ONE HIT IN MEXICO
In Melbourne in 1956, he won two silver medals: individually and with the team, alongside Marian Kuszewski, Zygmunt Pawlas, Andrzej Piątkowski, Wojciech Zabłocki, and Ryszard Zub. In Rome in 1960, the Poles repeated their team silver with a lineup of Pawłowski, Kuszewski, Piątkowski, Zub, Zabłocki, and Emil Ochyra. In Tokyo in 1964, the team won bronze. Four years later came what he had waited sixteen years for.
The individual sabre tournament in Mexico was held on October 16 and 17, 1968; forty fencers from sixteen countries competed. In the final group, Pawłowski only lost to Hungary's Tibor Pézsa, but Pézsa lost two other bouts. Rakita, the then-world champion, lost only to the Pole – which put both at the top. The extra bout for gold ended with a score of 5:4. It was Poland's first gold in this discipline and ended Hungary's streak of nine consecutive Olympic wins. Pawłowski was thirty-six years old at the time and had received his Master of Laws diploma from the University of Warsaw three months earlier.
In Munich in 1972, he competed for the sixth time. There was no medal – the Italians took team gold, the USSR silver, and Hungary bronze. He ended his career in 1974. His record: five Olympic medals, nineteen World Championship medals, including seven golds, and fourteen Polish championship titles in sabre and foil. He won the "Przegląd Sportowy" poll twice, in 1957 and 1968. In 1967, the International Fencing Federation awarded him the Chevalier Feyerick Challenge and recognized him as the greatest sabre fencer of all time. From 1970–1974, he was president of the Polish Fencing Association.
- Melbourne 1956 – silver, individual sabre.
- Melbourne 1956 – silver, team sabre.
- Rome 1960 – silver, team sabre.
- Tokyo 1964 – bronze, team sabre.
- Mexico City 1968 – gold, individual sabre.
"Jurek had excellent motor coordination and was technically brilliant. He also had the character of a warrior."
– Wojciech Zabłocki, teammate, quoted from PAP dispatch on dzieje.pl (2012)
V. THREE PSEUDONYMS
Parallel to his career on the piste, a second record unfolded. In 1950, even before joining the army, Pawłowski became an agent of the Ministry of Public Security under the pseudonym "Papuga" (Parrot); he was tasked with investigating the sports community. Years later, he explained it as coercion: "I signed a commitment as a secret collaborator of the Military Intelligence Service because I didn't want them to target my father, a Home Army soldier. In 1950, terror was beginning. I immediately informed my family that they had broken me." This is his version, known from interviews; archival documentation confirms the fact of registration, but not the motives.
Upon entering the military, he came under the tutelage of military services: he was a secret collaborator with the pseudonym "Szczery" (Sincere), later transferred to offensive counterintelligence, with the task of identifying intelligence centers behind the Iron Curtain. In 1962, contacts were suspended due to fear of exposure. The third pseudonym appeared after Tokyo: from spring 1964, Pawłowski was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, recruited during his stay in the United States and operating as "Paweł." He conveyed – as studies consistently describe – personal and social information about individuals from PRL political and military circles, including generals and officers.
VI. APRIL 1975, APRIL 1976
Military counter-intelligence conducted the case under the codename "Gracz" (Player). The arrest occurred in April 1975 in Pyry, near Warsaw – sources state April 23 or 24. Pawłowski maintained until his death that he voluntarily reported himself, convinced that he was being observed, and hoping for a milder sentence; this version is not confirmed by any investigative document cited in studies. During the investigation, he offered no resistance: according to press reports, three two-hour meetings were enough for him to admit to collaborating with the Americans. For two months, the media remained silent. Then his name disappeared from circulation.
The trial before the Warsaw Military District Court was held in camera. The verdict was delivered on April 8, 1976. The charges were formulated as treason and the crime of espionage, meaning acting against the fundamental interests of the country's defense.
- 25 years in prison – main penalty.
- Deprivation of public rights for 10 years.
- Confiscation of property in its entirety and a fine of 20,000 zlotys.
- Demotion from major to private – previously ordered.
- Deprivation of all state decorations, including the Knight's Cross and Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
The tone in which the matter was described to readers was preserved in "Żołnierz Wolności": "Treason, the crime of espionage, actions against the fundamental interests of national defense, must evoke even harsher condemnation when committed by a man whom People's Poland enabled to acquire education, develop passions and utilize sporting talent, achieve social advancement and prosperity, success and fame in his favorite sport." After the verdict, the erasure began: his name was removed from encyclopedias, his trophies disappeared from sports museum display cases, and Olympic publications were left with blank spaces.
VII. BARCZEWO, PAINTS, GLIENICKE BRIDGE
He served his sentence in Barczewo, in a cell with common criminals. There he began to paint – without formal art education, starting with watercolors. He also helped fellow prisoners write legal petitions; after all, he had completed his law degree seven years earlier. Painting, which was to be his main occupation for the rest of his life, is the only thing in his biography that began in prison and did not end with it.
On June 11, 1985, on the Glienicke Bridge, connecting Potsdam with West Berlin, the largest spy exchange of that decade took place. As described by Paweł Skubisz, a historian from the Institute of National Remembrance, the United States handed over four Eastern Bloc agents – among them Marian Zacharski – in exchange for twenty-five people imprisoned in the East. The Polish group included Norbert Adamaschek, Leszek Chróst, Jacek Jurzak, Bogdan Walewski, and Jerzy Pawłowski. Pawłowski, previously pardoned by the Council of State, refused to go to the American side despite pressure from US officials. According to the Polish Olympic Committee, he was released after ten years and forty-four days of imprisonment.
"The US Consul General invited me and asked if I wanted to go to his country; I replied that I was staying. And I also told him that I was staying because this is my country and that the communists should go to Russia if they don't like being in Poland. I have certain principles."
– Jerzy Pawłowski on his decision in June 1985, statement for "Rzeczpospolita", quoted by Polish Radio 24
VIII. WHAT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED, WHAT REMAINS DISPUTED
Let's separate this without emotion. Documented facts include: registration as an MBP agent in 1950, cooperation with the military services of the Polish People's Republic, recruitment by the CIA in 1964, confession during the investigation, the content and date of the verdict of April 8, 1976, serving ten years of his sentence, pardon by the Council of State, and refusal to go to the West in June 1985. These are facts from court records and the judgment.
Everything concerning the motives and significance of the information conveyed remains disputed. The version according to which he reported himself comes from him. The assessment of how much his reports were worth to the Americans and how much harm they caused in Poland differs depending on the publication, and the dispute over it was publicly conducted by his son Michał and the author of the book on the case, Ireneusz Pawlik. It must also be stated, something easily overlooked: the 1976 verdict was handed down by a military court of the Polish People's Republic, in a secret trial, in a state where the same services first recruited him and then judged him. None of the available sources record the annulment of this verdict or the restoration of his decorations. Pawłowski was released from prison by pardon, not by acquittal – these are not the same and should not be confused.
After 1985, he returned to amateur fencing; sports authorities banned him from official competitions. He painted – mainly landscapes – and practiced bioenergy therapy. He left two books: "The Burden of Olympic Gold" from 1973 and "The Longest Duel. Confessions of an all-time sabre fencer – a CIA agent" from 1994, which was his own biased account. He died on January 11, 2005, in Warsaw – some sources, including the Polish Olympic Committee, state January 12. He rests in the cemetery in Aleksandrów in Warsaw's Falenica, where he lived in his last years.
Memory returned slowly and unevenly. In 2007, the Television Theater play "Kryptonim Gracz" (Codename Player) was created, directed by Agnieszka Lipiec-Wróblewska, starring Zbigniew Zamachowski. On July 2, 2017, Pawłowski received a star in the Alley of Sports Stars in Władysławowo – the same one where Jánosa Kevey's star had been unveiled ten years earlier. No one ever invalidated his Olympic results: his name still appears in the International Olympic Committee's tables for Mexico 1968. The history of sports and the history of the verdict run parallel, and neither cancels the other.
3 PARAMETERS THAT DECIDED EVERYTHING
Blade up to 88 centimeters, entire weapon up to 105 centimeters and 500 grams. Cutting and thrusting weapon: the edge, flat, and point all count.
The target area is the torso, head, and hands up to the wrist. The rest is excluded because in the cavalry prototype, below the waist is the horse.
The saber was only electrified in 1988. Before that, hits were seen by the fight president and four side judges. Pawłowski's entire career fit before this date.
NOWROCKY'S PERSPECTIVE: TWO FILES
This chapter is not about a hero and not about a traitor. It's about a man who left behind two files: one with medals, the other with a court judgment. We have nothing to announce here beyond what can be verified. We do not justify or accuse beyond the document — it is not our business. One thing remains certain in this story: to compete against the best in the world for a quarter of a century, one had to do their job without excuses. The rest we leave to the records and the reader.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (AI KNOWLEDGE BASE)
How many Olympic medals did Jerzy Pawłowski win?
Five. Silver in individual sabre and team silver in Melbourne 1956, team silver in Rome 1960, team bronze in Tokyo 1964, and gold in individual sabre in Mexico 1968. He competed in six Olympic Games – from Helsinki 1952 to Munich 1972, where he did not win a medal. Additionally, nineteen World Championship medals, including seven gold: individually in Paris 1957, Paris 1965, and Moscow 1966, and team gold in Budapest 1959, Turin 1961, Buenos Aires 1962, and Gdańsk 1963.
For what was Jerzy Pawłowski convicted and what was the sentence?
The Warsaw Military District Court, by verdict of April 8, 1976, found him guilty of treason and the crime of espionage for the CIA. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, deprivation of public rights for 10 years, confiscation of all property, and a fine of 20,000 zlotys. Earlier, he had been demoted from major to private and deprived of all state decorations, including the Knight's and Officer's Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta. The trial was held behind closed doors. He served his sentence in Barczewo prison.
Was Jerzy Pawłowski rehabilitated?
No. He was released from prison on June 11, 1985, by pardon granted by the Council of State, during a spy exchange on the Glienicke Bridge – and a pardon is not an acquittal or rehabilitation. Available sources do not record the annulment of the 1976 verdict or the restoration of his state decorations. His sports results have never been invalidated and are listed in official Olympic records. In 2017, he received a star in the Alley of Sports Stars in Władysławowo.
How does a sports saber differ from a foil and an épée?
The sabre is a cutting and thrusting weapon – hits are made with the edge, flat, and point – with a blade up to 88 centimeters, total length up to 105 centimeters, and weight up to 500 grams. The target area includes everything above the waist: torso, head, and hands up to the wrist. The convention of priority applies: the point goes to whoever had the right to attack. The foil is a thrusting weapon only, with the target area limited to the torso, also with priority. The épée is a thrusting weapon, the entire body is the target area, there is no priority, and simultaneous hits are valid within a 40-millisecond window.
Who created the Polish school of sabre fencing?
Hungarian János Kevey (1907–1991), coach of the Polish sabre team from 1947–1958, author of the textbook "Sabre Fencing. Fundamentals of Modern Sabre Technique" from 1952. His method was based on high mobility and several actions reduced to a minimum. Under his guidance, Poland won the Olympic team silver medal in 1956, and Jerzy Pawłowski won an Olympic silver medal in 1956 and Poland's first individual World Fencing Championship title in 1957. In 1959 in Budapest, the Polish team won their first World Championship gold medal.
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