(Sports news) Maria Andrejczyk, a Polish javelin thrower auctioned off her silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics to raise money for an eight month old baby’s urgent heart surgery. Despite finishing first in the qualifications for the finals, the 25 year old finished second behind China's Liu Shiying after falling short by under two meters to win her first Olympic medal. 

Miłoszek Małysa, the eight month old baby needed urgent funds for a life saving heart surgery amounting to a total of 1.5 million zloty ($383,000). With half the money already raised, Andrejczyk pledged to help fundraise the other half by auctioning her Olympic medal. Zabka, a Polish supermarket chain ultimately won the auction with a bid of $125,000 but did not accept the medal. In a post on Facebook, they said “We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian, 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."

Maria Andrejczyk is no stranger to overcoming setbacks, having overcome a shoulder injury and bone cancer to win an Olympic medal. The money raised will allow Malysa to get the necessary surgery at Stanford University Medical Centre and as of now, the target has been surpassed for a total of 1,549,577 zloty ($3,95,592).

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