The Olympics are a culmination of years -- sometimes a lifetime -- of hard work, dedication and focus.

An Olympic medal is a symbol that represents those things, while at the same time proving that you are one of the best in the entire world at your chosen discipline.

But Polish discus thrower Piotr Malachowski found something more important than the silver medal he won in Rio.

Polish discus thrower Piotr Malachowski sold his silver medal to help a young boy. Getty Images

Malachowski returned to his home country and immediately put his medal up for auction in an effort to raise money for Olek Szymanski, a 3-year-old boy suffering from a rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma.

Through the online auction, Malachowski attempted to raise roughly $84,000 to go towards the $126,000 cost of a surgery that could possibly save the boy's life. A third of the money had already been raised by the Polish foundation Siepomaga.



According to ESPN, the price for the medal had reached $19,000 on Tuesday when Malachowski prematurely pulled it down. He took to Facebook and announced that Polish billionaires Dominika and Sebastian Kulczyk had agreed to purchase the medal for the remaining cost of the surgery.

Malachoswksi has another silver medal from the 2008 Beijing Games, and his Rio medal has already done much more good than it would have done sitting in his trophy case.

Even though the games ended on Sunday, the Olympic spirit is clearly alive and well.