2023.09.30 Wywiad z Otto Wasiuczyńskim (English)

Z Historia Wisły

Interview with Otto Wasiuczyński

Conducted on September 30, 2023, by the Wisła History Association. Authorized text.

I was born in Lviv in 1931. For many years, my documents stated that I was born in the Soviet Union, but that was not the case; it was Poland at that time. I lived in Lviv until the end of the war. After the war, we were deported. Lviv was left for the Russians, and we were taken to Wrocław in the so-called Recovered Territories. We lived there for about five years. At one point, there was a kind of panic that Wrocław would return to Germany. My father managed to arrange a transfer for work to Swoszowice, so we ended up in Kraków.

I rode a bicycle from a young age. In Wrocław, there was a time when my father was already in Swoszowice, and we were still living there—I was going to school and had to finish a year. Then—when I was about 18—I rode my bike from Wrocław to Kraków for the summer. On a regular bike, without gears. I rode all day; when you’re young, you have incredible strength. Probably even more than later when I started competing. I really enjoyed cycling. When Poland regained Wrocław, the First Sports Club was established there, and that’s where I started riding. There was a cyclist named Karolek, and I rode with him on the track. It was actually just outside the city, in the Poświętne district. A concrete track, the only one in Poland that was 200 meters long, because all the others were larger. Karolek also ended up in Kraków and worked in Nowa Huta. I found out from the newspaper that he was riding his bike when a car hit him, and he died on the spot.

Wisła was, of course, called Gwardia during the communist era. The president of Wisła was always appointed from among the militia commanders. Cracovia also had a different name; it was called Ogniwo and was under cooperative management. Other cities also had Gwardias, as various clubs were taken over this way. When we had Gwardia sports camps, athletes from different regions would come. The militia and the UB (Security Service) supervised it, as did the Ministry of Security. I remember at the first camp in Wrocław, there were many tents set up and a few thousand participants. At a common briefing, a high-ranking official addressed us and said, "Welcome and greetings to you, employees of the security service." There were perhaps 10 percent of them there; all the rest were young people who had not yet started working. Many funny situations related to this occurred. When I had an injury and needed a medical certificate, I went to a hospital under the security service—because that was where Gwardia athletes were treated. I got my certificate from there and brought it to school. The teacher saw it was a paper from the security service hospital and asked if my dad worked there. I said no. He inquired if my mom worked there, and I said, "No." I think he got scared and thought it was me. After that, he didn’t question me; he preferred not to take the risk!

Wisła didn't have a cycling tradition, but when I arrived in Kraków, that section was already established. There were a few athletes in it. I signed up, but I can’t say much about its beginnings. During my time, it ended its activity, but it had started a bit before I got there. It was a combined cycling and motorcycling section. Later, they separated them because the motorcyclists had different needs and problems. We received equipment, new bikes from the Italian company Benotto. They got new motorcycles, so they had it better! Generally, concerning the equipment, it's interesting that the bikes were available, and they were very good. But there were no tires! I suspect those responsible for purchasing the equipment were getting some kickbacks. They probably got much larger kickbacks for the bikes, because that’s expensive equipment, than for tires. So it wasn’t worth it for them to import tires. And that was a problem; we had bikes, but we lacked tires, which wore out quickly, needing several during the season.

I started with road cycling and did quite well. I was very strong in Kraków. There was a track cyclist here, Józef Kupczak; he persuaded me to come to the track and help him out. He was training for the Polish Championships in track cycling and needed a partner; I helped him, and he would overtake me. He saw that I was getting good results. He told me to also compete in those races. It was a series in four different cities; I went to Łódź for the first one, and he was eliminated in the qualifiers, while I took third place! From that time, I stayed on the track. I was a bit lazy my whole life and thought, why should I ride so many kilometers when on the track you only ride four? In Gwardia, I received a new track bike when I joined the national team; it was sent specifically for me. I participated in many camps, but not so many Gwardia ones—I was only at them maybe two or three times—but rather cycling camps. There was a time when races took place every Wednesday at the Cracovia track, known as the "Wednesdays." Teams from various clubs participated, and Wisła was the best. There was only one track in Kraków, and there were problems with the football players. They couldn’t come to an agreement, and when the football players were playing, the cyclists couldn’t ride to avoid conflicts. There were always problems with that; eventually, it was decided that the football players would train in the afternoon, and we would in the morning.

When I started riding, I was still very young. We went to Warsaw and for the first time won the Polish junior championship for Wisła. Of other competitions, I most remember the trip to Tula in Russia. There were races involving Poland, Russia, and possibly Romania or another Eastern Bloc country. We encountered terrible heat. Temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius; they even set up tents on the track because it was unbearable in the sun. With the national team, we broke the Polish record that had stood for over 20 years, set back at the Olympics. Exactly five minutes for four kilometers. Now there are different bikes and times; now they ride a minute less.

During my career, I worked. When I was just a Wisła athlete, there weren’t many camps; you would take time off from school and work. But later, when I was already a national team member, there were many more camps. Before every international competition, there would be a few days of training in various locations. Never in Kraków—mostly, I don’t know why—in Szczecin.

Regarding injuries or accidents, it often happened that one cyclist would bump into another on the track, resulting in abrasions and scrapes. Back then, there were rules that you had to wear a helmet on the track but not on the road. Junior team races were 50 kilometers long, while senior races were 100. Wisła often didn’t field a team in the seniors; we lacked a full lineup.

Alongside me on the Wisła team was Janusz Tlałka, but he had a much greater career in speed skating than cycling. For several years, he was the Polish champion at 10 kilometers in speed skating. His daughters were excellent skiers. Jan Żelazny, on the other hand, lived nearby, also in Swoszowice. He rode well and even participated in the Tour de Pologne. But after he ended his career, unfortunately, alcohol ruined his life.

Władysław Motyka was the coach at Wisła. He was much older than us. I didn’t collaborate much with him while I was riding on the road, but later I had contact with him. I remember that he, as a coach, received some money. When we went out on the Zakopane route—usually on Sundays—he would buy us breakfast in Myślenice and later some sour milk, which we enjoyed drinking. The atmosphere was very good; we were friends. There was a wide social spectrum, as there were only two real policemen who cycled, while the rest were students, pupils, and workers from various industries. Politics didn’t interfere in the section's life; those topics didn’t come up. Some contacts lasted for decades. Recently, Ryszard Motyczyński visited me. He came from Paris, and I admired him—because he is my age, yet he drove here by car. We keep in touch online. He was also a cyclist for Wisła but didn’t perform as well, perhaps due to his physical condition, as he was tall and very sturdy; however, he completed his studies and had a significant career.

Eventually, it was decided that the costs were too high. The club had to pay for the bikes, which was expensive. The section was dissolved, as was the motorcycling one. After that, I no longer competed. The younger ones went to other clubs, but I stopped racing. I had no further contact with Wisła, neither as a coach nor as an activist.

I’ve lived long enough to remember and observe a characteristic change in sports over time: in my days, women played only tennis and volleyball. Today they participate in all sports; in fact, I recently watched a competition where two men were boxing, and a woman was the referee! However, one thing that still isn’t addressed and, in my opinion, is unjust is the issue of physical conditions. This is very well understood in boxing or wrestling, where there are weight categories. A guy weighing 50 kilos can box and may even become a world champion. But in basketball or volleyball, if you’re short, you have no chances. In volleyball, a shorter player can be a libero, but there are only two such players in a match. In basketball, if you’re not at least 2 meters tall, you don’t count. And the money present in sports today is unimaginable. In my time, you didn’t earn from sports. The only "under-the-table" payments were those jobs. Football players were fictitiously employed. There was a distinction between professionalism and amateurism, and there was even a rule that only amateurs could compete in the Olympics. It was all nonsense because in the so-called people's democracies, amateurs were funded by the state. The Peace Race was only for amateurs, and the real amateurs were the Italians and Belgians because they had professional cycling, and if someone was good, they would turn pro. Once, during the Peace Race, there was a situation where the Belgian team became incomplete because the employer called up one of the cyclists; they needed him back in the bakery or wherever. I, on the other hand, had situations where there was a Gwardia camp in Jelenia Góra for three weeks. I worked in a design office and wrote a letter requesting leave, which the director refused. I told the organizers, and the responsible colonel from the Security Office, Markowicz, said he would speak to the director. Imagine that the director immediately agreed. In cycling, we didn’t have those fictitious jobs. Instead, we filled out special forms confirming lost income, and those amounts were reimbursed to us by the club. We also went for lunches at the police casino, where we dined for free. I don’t know exactly how it was settled, whether the coaches paid for it or if there was some allocation.

As a cyclist, I had exemptions from military service. But once I started performing well, they didn’t exempt me again; instead, they called me to Warsaw, to CWKS. That was how they operated—why train their own when they could call good ones to the army. That’s how I ended up from Wisła to CWKS; I only had three months of regular service, and then I was sent to Warsaw. But there was no track there; I was lucky because I received delegations to Kraków, got “board,” which meant money for diets, and I lived at home. This lasted for less than a year until changes occurred in the military after Rokossowski was ousted. I even have a photo of myself where I’m standing on a bench taking down Rokossowski's portrait that was hanging on a wall somewhere in the barracks.

During my time at Wisła, the boxing section was very good. Sometimes we had joint camps, and there were many excellent athletes. We rarely had contact with the football players; sometimes we would cross paths at camps, but we also stayed separately. At one point, basketball was at a high level; coach Mięta was a fantastic specialist; I know he was president for many years afterward. I occasionally went to basketball games; I remember one very crafty player who later trained footballers, preparing them conditionally—Tadeusz Pacuła. He was very handsome, resembling Gérard Philipe (the French theater and film actor from the 1940s and 50s).

I sometimes watch cycling, but it is incomparable to my times. Training methods, equipment, and bikes... Bikes are several times lighter now than back then, and athletes assume different positions. After the dissolution of the Wisła section, I only practiced cycling recreationally. I was still riding as of 2021, as long as I could. People joked that if I was cycling at my age, I must be very strong; I replied that on the contrary, I was so weak that I had to ride a bike because I could no longer walk. But I no longer ride because I get dizzy; I even fell once.

However, for years I commuted to work by bike, day in and day out, regardless of the weather. That’s also connected to the secret of my longevity. One winter day, on a very frosty, snowy day, I was riding up Borkowska Hill. I passed a bus stop, and at one point, I looked back and saw someone catching up with me, shouting, "Dear sir! Wishing you all the best; may you live to a hundred! I won two bottles of vodka thanks to you because I bet my friend that you’d be riding today too!" I still have a few years left from that bet, and I hope to use them well.