Silver medalist auctions medal to aid heart surgery patient
Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk has auctioned off her Tokyo 2020 silver medal to help fund heart surgery for an eight-month-old boy.
Andrejczyk, who came fourth at Rio 2016, recovered from bone cancer following a diagnosis in 2018, and went on to claim silver at the recent Olympic Games in Japan.
The 25-year-old wanted to help a stranger following her medal-winning feat, and said on her Facebook page this was the first fundraiser she stumbled upon.
The fundraiser in question is for Miloszek, a young Polish boy who requires heart surgery at Stanford hospital in USA.
Miloszek’s donation page is seeking 1.5million Polish zloty, just over £280,000, and Andrejczyk was hoping an auction would see her medal fund half of that amount.
On Monday, Andrejczyk confirmed Polish convenience store Zabka had won the auction, with their donation and further contributions surpassing the £140,000-mark she had hoped for.
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Zabka then praised her “beautiful and extremely noble gesture” and insisted she keeps the medal.
As of Tuesday morning, the donations were close to the 90 per cent mark.