At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Polish athlete Maria Andrejczky competed in javelin and ended up finishing fourth. Two years later, this Olympian was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. She took the diagnosis in stride and fought extremely hard, going through all sorts of surgeries and chemotherapy to be able to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, in which she took home a silver medal. Later this year, she learned of an 8-month-old boy from her home country who was in desperate need of a life-saving heart surgery. She wanted to help, so she began a fundraiser to auction off her silver medal in hopes of getting the money needed for the surgery.
She might have gotten the idea from another fellow Polish athlete, Piotr Malachowski, who back in 2016 auctioned off his silver medal from Rio to help a 3-year-old boy who was battling retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer.
When something like this happens, it shows society that there are bigger things than sport. Sport is a part of many people’s lives, but for the majority, it’s only for a short amount of time. So, while athletes are integrated into sport and into this way of life, they should use their platforms for good and see what they can do in order to benefit the greater population.
A great vow of heroism was seen from these two athletes as they gave up something that they had worked so hard for, because they knew that others were in need.
ChloeV
Sport, Not Games ⚽ 