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Olympian Maria Andrejczyk Auctions Off Medal To Pay For Young Boy's Surgery

August 18, 2021

Polish Olympian Maria Andrejczyk earned the silver medal in the javelin throw at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

On August 11, she announced the auctioning of her prized medal to help save a young boy's life.

Maria Magdalena Andrejczyk / Facebook

Just five days after securing the silver medal in javelin, Andrejczyk announced the auction on her Facebook page.

She chose to raise funds for Miłoszek Małysa, an 8-month-old boy who needs to travel from Poland to Stanford University in California to have life-saving heart surgery. She does not know Małysa, but wrote that she knew his cause was the right choice after reading online pleas for help from his parents.

Andrejczyk wrote that MaÅ‚ysa needed 1.5 million Polish zlotys — about $385,000 — to cover the costs of his transportation and treatment.

"The true value of a medal always remains in the heart," Andrejczyk told the Times of London. "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."

On August 17, she announced that the auction was closed. Zabka, a Polish convenience store chain, made the winning bid.

Zabka confirmed the good news on Facebook. The store also gracefully declined to accept her silver medal.

"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," the store wrote. "We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will stay with Ms. Maria."