Olympian Auctions Silver Medal for Charity, Winning Bidder Returns Medal to Her

Winners at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 are in the spotlight right now in their respective nations, elevated to the status of national heroes. While some enjoy and celebrate their commendable achievements, others like to use their mantle to help people and work towards noble causes.

Poland’s Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medalist Maria Andrejczyk is one of the latter. Maria auctioned her medal to raise money for an infant who has been suffering from a major illness and needs to be operated on in the US.

Maria started the auction on her social media

Andrejczyk clinched the silver medal in the javelin throw event at the mega-quadrennial event. She recorded a throw of 64.61 meters and defeated her counterparts to reach the podium.

However, Maria decided to use her silver to showcase her heart of gold. Poland’s star athlete decided to save a life after finding out about the toddler fighting for life. Miloszek, an infant, has been suffering from heart disease.

After announcing her auction, Maria opened the bidding on her Facebook account. On Monday, she closed the auction as a polish convenience store chain called Zabka had bid more than the amount required.

Maria closed the bid and posted, saying, “We have the winner of the auction! On Friday I received this wonderful information, and due to the fact that you dears have already done wonders and joint forces have paid more than the equivalent of the initial medal to the Mi?oszek account ? I decided to end the auction so that our Mi?oszek will receive the whole amount as soon as possible and can fly to the USA.

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Poland’s store chain happily helped but refused to take her medal

While the Polish store Zabka paid $125 USD more than the required amount for auction, they refused to take the medal. The store owners were inspired by Maria’s initiative and genuinely wanted to help.

They appreciated the hard work Maria had put in to win her medal. Hence, they generously donated the money and refused to take the medal away from the Olympian.

The Polish store posted on their Facebook page saying, “We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympia girl. We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will stay with Ms. Maria, who showed how Great she is.”

Maria survived cancer to win at Tokyo Olympics 2020

25-year-old Maria is herself a cancer survivor. In 2018, she was detected with osteosarcoma, a type of cancer in the cells that form bones. Hence, she wanted her medal to play a valuable role in someone else’s life.

She went through surgery and was, thankfully, able to go back to her training. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she missed the medal by a whisker, ending up in fourth place. The Polish star made a strong comeback and clinched the silver in Tokyo.

Also read: Polish Athlete Maria Andrejczyk To Auction Her Tokyo Olympics 2020 Silver Medal to Save Toddler?s Life