Poland's female javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk auctioned her silver medal to support heart surgery of an eight-month-old baby. The Polish Olympian had recently won the medal at Tokyo Olympics 2020. The star athlete has garnered over 2.5 million (£250,000) from medal auctions, while the child's surgery requires around 2086 million (280,000 pounds).
Maria Andrejczyk had finished fourth at the 2016 Rio Olympics as she failed by 2cm to secure herself a spot (at least a bronze medal) at the podium. She had to later overcome bone cancer to resurrect her javelin career.
"The true value of a medal always remains in the heart," she told Polish TV, according to The Times.
"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."
The 25-year-old, after winning a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, said on her Facebook page that she started a fundraiser for wee Polish kid named Miloszek, who needs to undergo a heart surgery at Stanford Hospital in America. On Facebook, Maria wrote: "Miloszek has a serious heart defect, he needs an operation.
"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."
As per a report in nzherald.co.nz, the chain store that won the medal auction told Maria that she could keep the her silver medal.
"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," a spokesperson said.