Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk auctions tokyo olympics silver medal to help an infant get heart surgery

Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk has auctioned off her Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medal to help fund the heart surgery of an eight-month-old boy, Pole Miloszek.

Andrejczyk missed out on a medal at Rio Olympics 2016 just by 2 centimetres. She suffered from a shoulder injury in 2017 and was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2018. After recovery, she made a comeback by winning her first Olympic medal in Tokyo earlier this month.

Following her win at the Tokyo Games, Andrejczyk wanted to help a stranger. Miloszek's fundraiser was the first she stumbled upon her Facebook page.

The baby has Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection (TAPVC), which is a major disfunction of his pulmonary veins, and is in need of urgent heart surgery as his situation is critical.

Miloszek's operation needs 1.5 million Polish zloty (Rs 2.86 crore). Andrejczyk hoped that she could raise half of the amount by auctioning her medal.

The Olympian wrote on Facebook, "Miloszek has a serious heart defect. He needs an operation. He already has a head start from Kubus — a boy who didn’t make it in time but whose amazing parents decided to pass on the funds they collected. And in this way, I also want to help. It’s for him that I am auctioning my Olympic silver medal.

Andrejczyk on Monday confirmed that Polish convenience store Żabka won the bid and around Rs 1.4 crore was raised.

In a surprising twist of events, the supermarket chain Żabka decided to give the medal back to Andrejczyk and donated the huge sum of money so that Pole could have another shot at life.Over 90 per cent of the amount has been raised through Miloszek's donation page.