Abstract
Henryk Roycewicz was not a well-known figure. His name would be difficult to find on the pages of textbooks for the history of Poland, he was also not included in the most popular encyclopedias. Who was he then? A Pole coming from a family with patriotic traditions, but born in times of persecution in the Russian partition. A soldier of the First World War, a cavalryman of the Second Republic, an athlete, an almost perfect rider, an Olympic medalist, a riding coach. Roycewicz was also a soldier of the September Campaign, then the Home Army, an activist of the underground, and finally a Warsaw insurgent – commander of the “Kiliński” Battalion. For the last two “offenses” he paid a high price – accusations of treason, sentence and a six-year stay in the Stalinist prison. After his release and rehabilitation, he returned to horse riding and remained faithful to it almost until the end of his life. Although he died more than a quarter of a century ago, he still lives in the memories of the older generation of riders, and above all his comrades-in-arms, their families, war veterans, for whom he has become a legend during his lifetime. The aim of the article was to present an outstanding figure of a soldier-patriot, sportsman-Olympian, sports activist.