Sabre, Individual, Men

By the time of the 1968 Olympic Games, Jerzy Pawłowski had been one of the world’s top fencers for 15 years and had won 19 medals in World and Olympic competition. The only gap in his collection was an Olympic title. He put this right in Mexico when he recorded a dramatic victory over the USSR’s Mark Rakita on a sudden-death hit in the barrage for the gold medal. In doing so he reversed the standings from the most recent World Championships and broke the 48-year stranglehold that Hungarian sabre fencers had on the Olympic title. Hungary’s best in 1968, reigning champion Tibor Pézsa, could only place third.

Pawłowski’s story is one of contrasts. On the face of it he was a national hero in Poland from the 50s through to the mid-70s and won three individual World title in addition to his Olympic gold medal. What was not known in his homeland until after he had retired from the sport was that Pawłowski, a major in the Polish Army, had been a spy for the CIA for over a decade. He was revealed as a spy in 1975 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After 10 years he was pardoned by the Polish government and released.