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25-year-old Polish canoe slalom athlete Klaudia Zwolinska recorded her biggest career success at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by winning silver medal, the first Olympic medal for Polish canoe slalom in 24 years. Despite the big success and importance of the medal, Zwolinska decided to donate the proceeds from the auction to help in the fight against cystic fibrosis. 

 

“The Olympic medal is an important symbol of my hard work and it is special for me. When I received it, I knew I could do something special with this medal - that I can help someone with it. So I decided to give this to the foundation that helps fight against cystic fibrosis in Poland. The medicines for this disease are super expensive. This is a huge problem and I want to support it. Even if I sell this medal, it will not be enough to help everyone. But I want to bring awareness about it,” Zwolinska said. 

 

The cause is close to her heart, with her fiance Grzegorz Hedwig, also an Olympian and slalom canoeist, losing his older sister, Iga, to the disease at age 22 and his younger sister also suffering from it. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder that affects lungs, pancreas, and other organs, causing severe, long-term damage to the lungs, leading to respiratory failure and death.

 

By auctioning her medal, Zwolinska joins other excellent Polish athletes who have supported the cause like cross-country skier and Olympic champion Justyna Kowalczyk-Tekieli and swimmer and Athens 2004 200m butterfly gold medallist Otylia Jedrzejczak.