Malachowski Donates Olympic Medal to Help Cancer Patient

Polish discus thrower Piotr Malachowski has donated his Olympic silver medal to raise funds for a three-year-old boy with a rare form of cancer.

Malachowski, 33, won his second Olympic silver in Rio, finishing 82cm adrift of Germany’s Christoph Harting.

His donation enabled compatriot Olek Szymanski, who has retinoblastoma – an eye cancer affecting young children, to go to New York for treatment.

“My silver medal is worth a lot more than a week ago,” said Malachowski.

“It is worth the health of little Olek.”

Malachowski, who also won silver in Beijing eight years ago, said fate had given him the chance to “increase the value of my silver”.

He added: “We were able to show that together we can do wonders. It is our great shared success.

“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.”