WARSAW, Poland—An Olympic athlete from Poland auctioned her silver medal from the Tokyo Games to raise money for a life-saving operation for an infant boy, and then was told by the buyer that she could keep her prize.

Maria Andrejczyk, a 25-year-old javelin thrower who overcame bone cancer and a shoulder injury to compete at this year's Olympics, said she decided to auction her medal to help the boy knowing how much she had to "fight against adversity and pain."

Molly Seidel stuns even herself with a third-place finish in Tokyo.

The money is for Milosz Malysa, an infant with a heart defect whose family has been raising funds for him to be operated on in the United States. Milosz's parents posted last week that the boy was at risk of dying soon without the surgery.

Zabka, a popular convenience store chain in Poland, bid 200,000 zlotys ($51,000) but said it would let the athlete keep her medal.

"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," Zabka said.

Fans have contributed an additional 300,000 ($76,500) to help the boy.

Even before the winning bid was made, the authorities in Andrejczyk's community in Poland said they were prepared to make her a replica of the medal.

Another Olympic bronze medalist, Molly Seidel, meanwhile, was one of several standout American women planning to run the New York City Marathon in November, race organizers announced Wednesday.

Seidel stunned even herself with a third-place finish in Tokyo this month in just the third 26.2-mile race of her career. An NCAA Division I champion at Notre Dame in the 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meter events, she is now the headliner for the NYC Marathon's 50th running in her five-borough debut.

"Since the beginning of 2021, I've had two races circled on my calendar: the Olympic Games' marathon on Aug. 7 and the TCS New York City Marathon on Nov. 7," said Seidel, 27, who grew up in Wisconsin. "Winning the bronze medal in Sapporo showed that I can run with the best in the world, and on any given day, anything is possible."

Fellow US Olympians Aliphine Tuliamuk, Sally Kipyego and Emily Sisson will also be in the field, along with 2018 Boston Marathon winner Des Linden.

Four-time champion Mary Keitany of Kenya won't participate for the first time since 2013.

The men's professional field has not yet been announced.

The 2020 NYC Marathon was canceled by the pandemic, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in June that the 2021 race would go on—albeit with a field limited to about 33,000 entrants, down from 55,000 in 2019.

Tuliamuk, who was born in Kenya, won the 2020 US Olympic marathon trials in Atlanta four years after gaining American citizenship. She gave birth to a daughter in January 2021 but still competed in Tokyo. She dropped out near the 20-kilometer mark.

"I want to inspire people, most importantly my daughter, to chase their dreams," she said in a statement released by the NYC Marathon. "I'm a different athlete and person than I was the last time I ran the TCS New York City Marathon in 2019, so why not fulfill one more dream on November 7?"

Tatyana McFadden is pursuing a record sixth NYC Marathon title in the wheelchair division but hasn't won since 2016.

The international field of competitors will be announced later.

Image courtesy of AP

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