Polish Olympian Maria Andrejczyk won the silver medal at the javelin at the Tokyo Olympics. On 11 August she announced that she would auction of her prized medal to help save a young boy's life.
Just five days after securing her medal, the Polish athlete announced the auction on her Facebook page.
She decided to raise funds for Miłoszek Małysa, an 8-month-old boy who needs to travel from Poland to Stanford University in California to have life-saving heart surgery.
She has never met Małysa, but wrote that she knew his cause was the right choice after reading online pleas for help from his parents. He needed 1.5 million Polish zlotys (approx. $385,000) to cover the costs of his transportation and treatment.
"The true value of a medal always remains in the heart," Andrejczyk told 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."
On 17 August, she announced that the auction was closed. Zabka, a Polish convenience store chain, made the winning bid. In a further act of kindness, Zabka gracefully declined to accept her silver medal.
"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," the store wrote. "We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will stay with Ms. Maria."