Highest bidder of the Tony Martin Olympic medal auction returns medal to Martin

In today's feel-good news, four-time world champion Tony Martin announced that his Olympic silver medal was returned to him after he auctioned it off to raise money for children in the Ukraine conflict.

In March, the now-retired time trial specialist announced that he would be auctioning off what he described as  “the biggest trophy” of his career in an effort to raise money for a German organization called RTL - Wir helfen Kindern and their relief efforts in the Ukraine. 

Said trophy is the silver medal he won in the time trial at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. 

“Every day I see the terrible pictures from Ukraine on TV and it feels so wrong to sit on the couch and accept this situation...I also want to do my small part and help," he wrote on Instagram at the time. 

"It's not easy to separate me from the biggest trophy I could win in my career but considering the fact that millions of people lost almost everything, it is something I really want to do."

Two weeks later, the auction was won by German dietary supplement company, FitLine, who also rounded up the final fundraising sum to an even €35,000. 

In a wonderful gesture of kindness, the company's General Manager of Sports, Torsten Weber, then returned the medal back to Tony Martin because "that's where it belongs."

"We have the greatest respect for Tony’s selfless commitment. Also, we at FitLine are passionate about sports. We know how much heart and soul went into Tony’s medal from London 2012," the company stated on social media.

"Can you imagine his face when we told him we're rounding our contribution to 35,000 Euros and also give the medal back to him? Because that's where it belongs. Thank you again Tony, for making a difference for the children!" 

Martin was both pleasantly surprised and beyond grateful, stating:

"Even though I was absolutely fine with donating it, this massive generously gesture makes me speechless. I really want to thank FitLine for the big support of my charity project and also for giving me back the chance to show my Olympic silver medal to my grandchildren one day," he said.