Tokyo 2020 - Javelin silver medalist Maria Andrejczyk auctions Tokyo silver medal to fund child's surgery
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ByEurosport
Published 17/08/2021 at 09:39 GMT
Maria Andrejczyk won silver at the Tokyo Olympics in the Javelin throw, recovering from bone cancer in 2018 to make it to the Games in Japan. She wanted to donate her medal to a good cause and decided to auction it off to the first fundraiser she saw which was to fund heart surgery for an infant boy called Miloszek.
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Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk has auctioned off her silver medal won at Tokyo 2020 to help fund heart surgery for an eight-month-old boy.
The 25-year-old said she wanted to auction her medal for a good cause and announced her decision to fund Miloszek's specialist operation at Stanford hospital in USA on social media.
She wrote on Instagram: "It didn't take me long to decide, it was the first fundraiser I entered and I knew it was the right one. Like our Antoś, Miłoszek has a serious heart defect and is in need of surgery.
"He also has support from above from Kubuś, a boy who did not make it on time but whose amazing parents decided to pass on the funds they collected to Miłosz.
"And in this way, I also want to help. It’s for him that I am auctioning my Olympic Silver medal."
Miloszek's donation page is seeking 1.5 million Polish zloty, just over £280,000. Andrejczyk hopes her auction would see her medal fund half of that.
Polish convenience store Zabka won Monday's auction with their donation and other contributions helping reach Andrejczyk's £140,000 target. Zabka insist that she keep the medal for her gesture.
At the time of writing, Miloszka's donation page has reached 90 per cent.
Andrejczyk was the favourite heading into the women's javelin event, but was unable to produce her best form, throwing a distance of 64.61m, which paved the way for China's Shiyinh Liu to take gold after she recorded 66.34m.
Australia's Kelsy Lee Barber took bronze with a distance of 64.56m.
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