Tennis superstar Iga Swiatek has denied the piquant allegations of former Polish federation president Miroslaw Skrzypczynski and accused the disgraced official of lying.
The world number one Iga Swiatk has vehemently rejected the claim of the former Polish association president Miroslaw Skrzypczynski that she had demanded an entry fee of around 320,000 euros from the association for her start at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“Before the Olympic Games I had no direct contact with Miroslaw Skrzypczynski. These words were never said and are not true,” Swiatek countered the allegations of the former head of the association to “sport.pl”.
The Pole emphasized that she never saw the games as an incentive to earn money: “Money was and will never be a condition for me to take part in the Olympics.”
Skrzypczynski claimed the opposite this week and said in a speech to the Polish parliament: “We had a plan before the games in Tokyo, but Iga Swiatek and Lukasz Kubot came and said: Mr President, everything is fine, but who is going to pay us? We go to the tournaments where the money is waiting for us because we have to live.” The number one in the world then demanded 1.5 million zloty from the association, said Skrzypczynski.
Swiatek, in turn, now explained that she absolutely wanted to take part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. “The Olympics were my top priority and I did everything I could to prepare as well as possible,” said the world number one.
Which version of the story is ultimately true remains to be seen. However, in the case of Skrzypczynski it would not be the first time that he has twisted the truth in his favor. Just a few weeks ago, serious allegations of abuse were made against the former official. Despite several consistent witness statements, Skrzypczynski denied all allegations.
