Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – Maria Andrejczyk & Yorkshire CCC
Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT - MARIA ANDREJCZYK
Winning an Olympic medal is the pinnacle for most athletes, particularly those in track and field events for whom the Olympic Games is the ultimate prize.
Polish javelin thrower Maria Andrejczyk came close at Rio 2016 when she finished fourth with a best attempt of 64.78, missing a place on the podium by a margin of just 0.02cm.
In 2019, her career took a back seat when she underwent surgery after being diagnosed with an osteoma, a benign bone tumour.
Remarkably, she fought back and after surgery, she was able to restart training for the Olympic Games in 2019 and won the silver medal at Tokyo 2020 with a throw of 64.61 metres.
Maria later said that she wanted to put the medal to good use and so sought a worthy cause and told Polish television: “The true value of a medal always remains in the heart. A medal is only an object, but it can be of great value to others. This silver can save lives, instead of collecting dust in a closet. That is why I decided to auction it to help sick children.”
Via a Facebook fundraiser, she soon identified a young boy named Miloszek Malysa, who has a heart defect, who needs life-saving surgery.
"I didn't spend long thinking about this, it was the first fundraiser I came across and I knew it was the right one," she said.
"He already has a head start from Kubus – a boy who didn't make it in time but whose amazing parents decided to pass on the funds they collected…And in this way, I also want to help. It's for him that I am auctioning my Olympic silver medal.”
According to Małysa's mother, Monika, there were no longer any viable options to help the boy in their home country, Poland, with their last hope being an operation in Stanford, California.
After starting the auction off at 200,000 zloty ($51,000), Maria announced that Żabka, a Polish supermarket chain, won the auction with a bid of $125,000.
"It's with the greatest pleasure that I give to you, Żabka, my medal which for me is a symbol of struggle, faith and the pursuit of dreams despite the many challenges," she added.
"I hope for you it will be a symbol of the life of which we fought for together."
Zabka then announced that they would return the medal to Maria.
"We were moved by the beautiful and extremely noble gesture of our Olympian," it wrote on Facebook.
"Therefore, we decided to support the collection of funds for the sick Miłoszek. We also decided that the silver medal from Tokyo will remain with Mrs. Maria, who showed how great she is."
The money raised will allow Małysa to get the necessary surgery at Stanford University Medical Center and underlines yet again how the sport of sport can change lives and how sports stars can be role models, making a positive difference to society.
MISS – YORKSHIRE CCC
Yorkshire County Cricket Club have not done themselves any favours following the conclusion of a year-long independent investigation after former player Azeem Rafiq accused them or racism.
Rafiq, a former captain both of England’s Under-19s and Yorkshire’s Twenty20 side, first spoke publicly about his experiences at the club last September and claimed that "institutional racism" left him close to taking his own life.
Last November, after he first gave evidence to the panel appointed by Yorkshire to investigate his allegations, and two members of the panel stood down to act instead as witnesses, Rafiq’s lawyer spoke of her “serious concerns about the initial handling of Azeem’s complaint and the people appointed to be involved in that process”.
The 100-page report upholds many of Rafiq’s allegations – but when it will be made public, and how much of it will be redacted, remains uncertain while the ECB wrote to the club last week to ask for a copy of the findings.
Yorkshire have offered him their "profound apologies" after "several of the allegations" were upheld but Rafiq was understandably frustrated.
He said: "A year of pain, a year of trying to get people to listen, a year of giving people an opportunity to do the right thing and we end up with a statement that turns racism into inappropriate behaviour."
“We’ve waited a year for this report and they are still trying to bury it,” Rafiq told ESPNcricinfo.
“The ECB’s own anti-discrimination code states that any alleged breach must be investigated and dealt with in a ‘timely’ fashion. Well, it’s been more than a year and no one has been held accountable and nothing has changed.”
Given the gravity of the investigation, Yorkshire should have been complete transparent about the findings and done everything to address Rafiq’s concerns once the report was finalised.
The club said in a statement that the scope of the investigation went beyond solely examining Rafiq's allegations, also considering whether they were institutionally racist.
"The investigation has been in depth and far from easy. Sadly, historically, Azeem was the victim of inappropriate behaviour."
Rafiq responded: "To try and say that these are historical things, yes there are things that are 10 years ago but predominantly most of my allegations relate to people that are still there in leadership positions.
"It's like saying 'we're going to punch you, knock you down and then pick you back up'. To be honest I'm absolutely sick and tired.
"I'm sick and tired of giving these people, the game, Yorkshire Cricket Club, the ECB, everyone, an opportunity to the detriment of myself. The damage that this last 12 months has caused me… I don't know when I will actually know that."
The speed at which Yorkshire have dealt with the complaints and their approach to dealing with them does not suggest that they understand the seriousness of the allegations or the damage that the situation has done to their reputation.
The ECB Chairman, Ian Watmore, then demanded that Yorkshire deliver a copy of the report to the governing body. “We respect the independent process behind the review, and the club’s legal responsibilities to all parties. We also understand the frustration at the length of time this investigation has taken.
“Now that the club has a full copy of the report, we have today written to Yorkshire to formally request a copy, together with a timeline for publication.
“It has taken considerable courage for Azeem Rafiq to speak out, and it is right that his experiences should have been thoroughly investigated. We now look forward to receiving a copy of the report promptly to enable us to fulfil our role as the ultimate regulator of the game.”
Clearly there is still work to do, especially as some of those who Rafiq complained about remain at the club.
He added: “To try and tone racism down to inappropriate behaviour ... straight away for me, I find it really difficult to understand what they think they are doing. At the end of it [the statement] there is some sort of apology, but it is spoilt by the words that are used to try and minimise what my allegations were.
“I want to know which of my allegations have not been upheld. I am very comfortable, I have a lot of proof to back up the things that I am saying. I wouldn’t think twice about making sure people see that proof because I am not having, for any second of the day, a statement that turns my sufferings of over a decade into ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
“Most of my allegations are about people who are currently at the club in leadership positions so to try and say these are historic allegations from a long time ago — yes there are some things on there that go back to the start of my career, but the majority of them are about people who are still there and from during my second spell at the club.
“I have got a message for them: it isn’t going away, I am not going away. If they really want to deal with this properly, the start of it is accountability. I think the chief executive, the director of cricket, everyone who was in that room when I said it, and the inclusion and diversity manager whose front room I sat in and cried my eyes out, I think they need to go. It’s as simple as that.
“The patience is gone, it’s completely gone. I am not going to put myself through any more mental turmoil. It is time for this to be dealt with properly.”