Israeli Olympic bronze medalist raises $52,000 for charity in auction
The proceeds will be donated to the children's oncology department at a hospital in Tel Aviv
An Israeli Olympic bronze medalist has raised more than $50,000 for children with cancer by auctioning her Rio Games identification badge on eBay.
Judoka Yarden Gerbi's badge was sold on Monday for $52,200 (46,700 euros) after a week-long bidding process.
The proceeds will be donated to the children's oncology department of Ichilov Hospital at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, the eBay page said.
Gerbi — Israel's 2013 judo world champion — was feted at home after she clinched the Olympic under 63kg bronze medal in Rio.
Gerbi was the first Israeli Olympic medalist since windsurfer Shahar Tzuberi took home the bronze in the 2008 games in Beijing.
"I'm proud to have won this medal for Israel," 27-year-old Gerbi said at the time.
Born in Kfar Saba but raised in Netanya, Gerbi began practicing judo at age six and has won 27 medals in Judo since 2013, including two bronze and a silver at the European Judo Championships.
Fellow Israeli judoka Or Sasson also won a bronze medal in the over 100kg category.
Both were greeted to patriotic chants by some 1,000 friends, family members and well-wishers at the airport.
"This is crazy, I wasn't expecting such madness," an elated Gerbi told the press. "You don't get those things elsewhere."
Their medals were Israel's first in any Olympic categories since 2008.
Sasson was at the center of a scandal after a beaten Egyptian Judoka who refused to shake hands with him at the end of their bout. Islam El Shehaby's actions were widely condemned as "unsporting" and he was sent home from Rio by the Egyptian Olympic Committee.
Staff with AFP