LAUSANNE, Switz., Feb. 28, 2023—The FIE is saddened to learn of the passing of Mr. Adam Lisewski (POL, MH) on February 23. He was an FIE Member of Honour (2013) and a member of the FIE Refereeing Commission from 1976 to 1984, and 1990 to 1998.
Mr. Lisewski was born on January 20, 1944 in Warsaw and received a master engineering degree from the Warsaw University of Technology. He had a long, distinguished career in fencing as both an athlete and official. Most notably, he was a bronze medallist in men’s team foil at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and later became president of the Polish Fencing Federation from 1980 to 1988 and 1992 to 2008. He served as a board member of the Polish Olympic Committee from 1980 until the present.
For the FIE, Mr. Lisewski was appointed as a technical and refereeing delegate at 15 junior and senior fencing World Championships, and organiser of the 2001 Gdansk Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships.
He served as a member of the European Fencing Confederation for eight years, organising junior and senior European Championships in Poznan, Krakow and Gdansk.
As an athlete, in addition to his Olympic bronze, Mr. Lisewski was a four-time team foil medallist at the World Championships (silver, 1965 and 1971; bronze, 1966 and 1967) and won a gold medal at the 1963 University Games in men’s team epee and foil, bronze in men’s team epee in 1965 and silver in men’s team foil in 1970.
Mr. Lisewski’s accomplishments were recognized by being awarded a “Distinguished Master of Sport”, among other accolades including a silver medal for Outstanding Sports Achievements, silver (1979) and gold (1988) Crosses of Merit and the Knight’s Cross of OOP (1997).
The FIE extends its sincere condolences to Adam Lisewski’s family and friends, the Polish Fencing Federation and the European Fencing Confederation. We express our deepest sympathy to them during this difficult time.