Radosław Piesiewicz, head of the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl), said there were no grounds at present to terminate the sponsorship agreement with the Zondacrypto cryptocurrency exchange.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, he said the company had so far met its obligations to the committee and that ending the contract would trigger a penalty PKOl could not afford.
His comments came as prosecutors in southern Poland investigate Zondacrypto after hundreds of people reported being unable to withdraw funds held on the platform.
On Friday, estimated losses were put at PLN 350 million (around EUR 80 million, USD 100 million), and that figure may rise.
Among those affected are Polish Olympians who were promised rewards in crypto tokens.
Speed skater Damian Żurek said he could not cash out PLN 100,000 worth of tokens awarded for two fourth-place finishes, in the men's 500-meter and 1,000-meter events at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Later, broadcaster TVN24 reported that ski jumper Kacper Tomasiak, a three-time Olympic medalist, faced the same problem with PLN 550,000 in promised tokens.
Sports Minister Jakub Rutnicki sharply criticized Piesiewicz. In a post on X, he said Olympians had been left without money owed to them and accused Piesiewicz of bearing full responsibility.
He also said the sponsorship deal had been signed without consultation with PKOl’s management board and presidium.
Piesiewicz avoided direct answers on Monday when asked about the athletes’ access to their token rewards. He said the cash prizes and material rewards promised by PKOl itself had already been paid or delivered.
He defended the sponsorship deal, saying it had been signed in good faith.
According to Piesiewicz, Zondacrypto’s support was crucial after the Paris 2024 Olympics, when several sponsors ended their cooperation with PKOl following allegations of financial irregularities.
He said the committee needed the money and that, without it, Polish athletes would not have gone to the Games.
Zondacrypto has been PKOl’s main sponsor since October last year. As part of the agreement, it pledged rewards in tokens for Polish Olympians who won medals or finished from fourth to eighth place. In total, the sponsor is due to pay out PLN 1.38 million.
The deal was controversial from the start, critics say. Even some PKOl deputy heads objected, arguing that key decisions had been made without the knowledge or approval of parts of the leadership, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
One senior figure described it at the time as another image problem for the committee.
Piesiewicz also said he had written to Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW), before the contract was signed, asking for a risk analysis related to cooperation with such a company. He said the letter was delivered on October 17 and that PKOl never received a reply.
That account was rejected by Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister responsible for coordinating Poland’s intelligence and security services. He said Piesiewicz was manipulating the facts and insisted PKOl had never asked ABW specifically about Zondacrypto.
Siemoniak’s spokesman, Jacek Dobrzyński, said the agency had offered PKOl training in counterintelligence and counterterrorism prevention, but that contact later broke off.
Pressure on PKOl has increased as other sports organizations have begun cutting ties with Zondacrypto.
Since Friday, soccer clubs Raków Częstochowa and GKS Katowice and basketball club Dziki Warszawa have moved to end their sponsorship agreements with the company.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP