Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk auctions Tokyo 2020 silver medal
 

to help eight-month-old get heart surgery.

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(CNN)Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk has auctioned off her Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medal to fund urgent heart surgery for an eight-month-old baby.

The 25-year-old finished first in qualifying for the final at the Summer Games but was outthrown by just under two meters by China's Liu Shiying to earn the silver -- her first Olympic medal.
However, in a Facebook post last Wednesday, Andrejczyk explained that she was auctioning off her Olympic medal to raise funds for eight-month-old Miłoszek Małysa to have life-saving heart surgery.
"I didn't spend long thinking about this, it was the first fundraiser I came across and I knew it was the right one," she wrote.
According to Małysa's mother, Monika, there are no longer any viable options to help the infant in their home country, Poland, with their last hope being an operation in Stanford, California.
Andrejczyk explained that Małysa needed 1.5 million zloty ($383,000) for the urgent surgery. With half the money already raised, she said she wanted to fundraise the other half.

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After starting the auction off at 200,000 zloty ($51,000), she announced on Monday via Facebook that Żabka, a Polish supermarket chain, won the auction with a bid of $125,000.
"It's with the greatest pleasure that I give to you, Żabka, my medal which for me is a symbol of struggle, faith and the pursuit of dreams despite the many challenges," she wrote.
"I hope for you it will be a symbol of the life of which we fought for together."
The money raised will allow Małysa to get the necessary surgery at Stanford University Medical Center.
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After winning the auction, Żabka announced that they will be returning the medal to Andrejczyk.
"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," it wrote on Facebook.
"Therefore, we decided to support the collection of funds for the sick Miłoszek. We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will remain with Mrs. Maria, who showed how great she is."
Andrejczyk had previous missed out on an Olympic medal at the 2016 Rio Games by just two centimeters.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/19/s...ntl/index.html

What a lovely story, from both Maria and the Supermarket who bought the Medal and also returned it to Maria :lovedup:

it's a great story

Lovely story, and they're thin on the ground right now.

It’s a fabulous idea ... that said I’d only want to keep a Gold medal .. even then you can get a replica and sell the original .


I have zero idea why people buy someone else’s medals though


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It's usually businesses who use them as displays I'd imagine

She won a silver medal but she has a solid gold an diamond encrusted heart.

Guess so but there must be a market ...

As I said I wouldn’t want my own silver medal nevermind someone else’s


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It’s the achievement they represent they are not solid precious metals but are dipped

The best part is her daughter can have her surgery. Hope all goes well for them.

It isn't even her daughter

Yes .. it’s a lovely gesture


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Not to be skeptical about the supermarket but it's not really altruism is it; you couldn't buy marketing like that for 10x what they paid for the medal, and they don't physically need the medal...

...That said, if big companies want to go down the route of "buying good press" by supporting actually good causes, I suppose that's a much better use of the advertising budget than spamming ads on TV or online... so hopefully it catches on.

Well yeah but whatever their motivations, they still did a good thing and if they get more customers because of it maybe-as you say- it will encourage more companies to do things like this

the likes of sainsbury and tesco here get lots of free press from supporting children in need. all the singers and bands that performed at live aid, saw huge surges in their record sales etc. People that attach themselves to comic relief have gained a similar boost.

The bottom line is that the objective was to get funding for a medical procedure and that has been achieved. That is what's important