OLYMPIC hero Maria Andrejczyk is auctioning her silver medal to help fund a toddler’s £130,000 life-saving heart surgery.
Polish javelin thrower Andrejczyk vowed to put her Tokyo 2020 medal to good use after beating bone cancer.
And having taken suggestions from the public, she chose the plight of fellow Pole Miłoszek.
The 25-year-old wrote on her Facebook page: “Miłoszek 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 missed out on a Rio 2016 medal by just 2cm.
She then sat out the following year with a shoulder injury and was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.
But she battled back from both challenges to come second in Japan.
And she let all the emotion out on the Tokyo podium.
Andrejczyk explained she will accept offers from her gong through personal messages to her social media.
And The Times report her as telling Polish television: “The true value of a medal always remains in the heart.
“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.”
Andrejczyk’s personal best of 71.40 is the third-longest ever hurled by a woman in the javelin.
But it’s her auction gesture that might go further, and live longer, in the memory.
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