On ya mate

Olympic Speed-Skating Champ Donates Bonus

Olympic speed skating winner Joey Cheek has put his gold medal where his mouth is.

The 500-meter American champion declared during a press interview about his victory that he was donating his entire $25,000 U.S. Olympic Committee bonus from the event to help children in the war-torn region of Darfur in Sudan.

"I wanted to make it meaningful," said Cheek, 26, a former inline skater from Greensboro, N.C. "It's empowering to think of someone else."

On Monday, Cheek skated the two best races of his life, with a combined time 0.65 seconds ahead of the silver medalist, Russia's Dmitry Dorofeyev – considered an amazing margin in a furious sprint usually decided by hundredths of a second.

Cheek challenged his sponsors to match his donation. He plans to visit the Darfur region, where some 180,000 people have died and 2 million forced to flee in a bitter conflict, and see how his money is helping.

"I have been blessed with competing in the Olympics," said Cheek, who recalled something his mother Chris told her two sons:

"Not to have good intentions, but to do good things."