Polish discus thrower Piotr Malachowski won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but was not interested in hanging on to the medal. Instead, he chose to auction the medal off, hoping to raise funds for Olek Szymanski, a three-year-old boy battling eye cancer.
The auction was a success. On his Facebook page, Małachowski excitedly announced that the medal had been bought by Polish siblings Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk, raising the necessary funds. Roughly translated, Malchowski said:
“Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk just declared their willingness to buy my silver medal for the amount which enables you to complete the treatment, what I wanted most. Thus, we end the bidding and the medal will go into the hands of Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk.”
This is certainly a great gesture from Malachowski, who reached out to help a boy who obviously needed a lot of it. It’s also a great move from the Kulczyk’s, estimated to be worth $3.4 billion. They’ve shown a willingness to use their money for great things.
This is not the first time a Polish medalist has done something like this. In 2004, Otylia Jedrzejczak won the 200 meter butterfly event and auctioned off her prize to help children fighting leukemia.