An Olympian Sold Her Silver Medal To Fund A Boy's Surgery. The Buyer Let Her Keep It

Joe Hernandez

August 19, 2021 / 12:02 pm

caption: Poland's Maria Magdalena Andrejczyk celebrates her silver medal in the javelin throw at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Aug. 7. She auctioned the medal to help fund heart surgery for an 8-month-old.

Just days after the Tokyo Olympics, a Polish javelin thrower auctioned off her silver medal to help pay for an infant's heart surgery.

Maria Magdalena Andrejczyk announced on Facebook last week that she would sell her medal and put the proceeds toward an operation for 8-month-old Miloszek Malysa. According to a fundraiser page, the boy is under home hospice care and requires an urgent operation in the United States.

This week, Andrejczyk announced the auction winner.

The Polish convenience store chain Zabka placed the top bid, paying $125,000 for the silver medal, according to media reports.

But instead of collecting its prize, Zabka announced it would let Andrejczyk keep the silver medal after all.

"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," the company said in a Facebook post translated from Polish. "We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will remain with Ms. Maria, who showed how great she is."

The 25-year-old athlete nabbed second place during the Olympic women's javelin throw final in early August.

After the auction closed, Andrejczyk said in a translated Facebook post that the medal was to her a "symbol of struggle, faith and the pursuit of dreams despite many adversities."