2016 Olympic Polish prize-winner donates his silver medal to help the child with cancer
Piotr Malachowski, a Polish discus thrower, a two-time silver medalist, has donated his 2016 Olympic silver medal to raise funds for a three-year-old boy with a rare form of cancer, reports Pravmir.
The athlete wrote on his Facebook page: «Winning an Olympic medal is one of an athlete's life dreams. Of course, the most precious is gold. I did everything in my power to get it. Unfortunately this time I did not succeed. But fate has given me a chance to increase the value of my "silver"».
Piotr Malachowski’s donation enabled his compatriot, a three-year-old boy Olek Szymanski, who has retinoblastoma - an eye cancer affecting young children, to go to New York for treatment.
The discus thrower urged "all people of good will" to donate money for Olek’s treatment, which totally costs 120 thousand dollars. A third part of the money has already been collected.
"In Rio, I fought for the gold medal. Today, I appeal to everyone – let's fight together for what is much more expensive –the health of this wonderful boy. If you help me, my "silver" can be worth more than gold," said the athlete.
He added: "We were able to show that together we can do wonders. It is our great shared success."
For Peter Malachowski a silver medal at the Games in Rio de Janeiro is the second in the career. At the Olympics in 2008, he also became the second in discus throwing. In 2015, a Polish athlete won gold at the World Championship.
Recall Portugal national team striker Cristiano Ronaldo has donated the prize of 275 thousand euros for winning the Europe-2016 championship to the charitable children oncology fund.