Polish Olympic javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk has auctioned off her silver medal from the Tokyo games to help fund life-saving heart surgery for an eight-month-old boy.
Andrejczyk, who herself beat bone cancer after being diagnosed in 2018 to compete at the 2020 Olympics, raised £130,000 (around $178,000) by selling her silver medal in aid of a fundraiser for Miloszek, a young Polish boy who requires life-saving heart surgery at Stanford hospital in the United States.
The fundraiser for Miloszek is looking for 1.5million Polish zloty, just over £280,000, and the funds from Andrejczyk’s medal has raised around half of that. The youngster’s crowdfunding page has reached 95% of its target as of Wednesday.
Andrejczyk said she wanted to put her success to good use by auctioning off her medal to help a stranger in need.
Writing on her social media pages, the 25-year-old said: ‘It didn’t take me long to decide, it was the first fundraiser I entered and I knew it was the right one.
‘Miloszek has a serious heart defect and is in need of surgery.
‘He already has a head start from Kubus – a boy who didn’t make it in time but whose amazing parents decided to pass on the funds they collected.
‘And in this way, I also want to help. It’s for him that I am auctioning my Olympic silver medal.’
Andrejczyk added that Polish convenience store Zabka won the auction and immediately decided to give the medal back to her.
Writing on Facebook, the athlete said: ‘The winner, and at the same time, the company I will be eternally grateful to is the company Zabka.
‘It is with the greatest pleasure to give you Zabka this medal, which for me is a symbol of struggle, faith and pursuit of dreams despite many odds.
‘I hope that for you it will be a symbol of the life we fought for together.’
Zabka praised Andrejczyk’s ‘beautiful and extremely noble gesture’ and insisted that she keeps the medal.
As quoted by The Times, Andrejczyk also told Polish television: ‘The true value of a medal always remains in the heart.
Miloszek needs specialist treatment in the US
Silver medalist Maria Andrejczyk stands on the podium during the medal ceremony for the Women’s javelin
A medal is only an object, but it can be of great value to others.
‘This silver can save lives, instead of collecting dust in a closet. That is why I decided to auction it to help sick children.’
