A Newfoundland boy is receiving national attention for giving a medal he won playing soccer to Canadian athletes who were denied a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London.

Elijah Porter, 10, reached out to the men's 4x100-metre running relay team after it was disqualified when one of its members stepped out of bounds.

Porter, who lives in Paradise, near St. John's, wrote the team a letter saying they were good athletes and what happened to them was wrong.

"I decided that even though I can't change the rules I can make them feel better. So I decided to send my soccer medal and a note that started with talking about everything that's good about Canada," he told CBC.

It was his only medal.

"I'm not much of a sports boy but when I was younger I was doing a little soccer thing in Mount Pearl," said Porter.

On Monday, one of the Canadian sprinters, Justyn Warner, tweeted a photo of Porter’s letter. Since then, the story has caught fire on Twitter and Facebook.