Just five days after winning the silver at Tokyo Olympics, Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk put her silver medal to help save an infant's life. (More Sports News)
Andrejczyk, 25, finished second behind China's Liu Shiying with a throw of 64.61m in the final of the women's javelin competition.
On August 11, she announced the auction on Facebook to help raise funds for Miloszek Malysa, an 8-month-old boy who needs life-saving heart surgery.
In her post, the former European junior champion wrote that didn't know Malysa, but did it after reading online pleas for help from his parents.
She added that that half of 1.5 million Polish zlotys (roughly $385,000) needed to cover the costs of his travel from Poland to Stanford University in California and medical care had already been raised by the family's online fundraiser.
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On Monday (August 16), Andrejczyk announced that she exceeded her fundraising goal. And surprisingly, she also revealed that she also can keep the medal thanks to a Polish convenience store chain, Zabka, which made the winning bid.
Zabka confirmed that it made the winning bid with a Facebook message reading: "We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture" made by Andrejczyk. "We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will stay with Ms. Maria."
Andrejczyk herself is a cancer survivor. In 2018, a sinus X-Ray revealed that she suffered from osteosarcoma. She underwent surgery and recovered in time to compete in Tokyo. She finished fourth in Rio Games.
