Getty/Heavy Veronica Fraley competes in the women's discus throw final on Day Seven of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials. She's launched a GoFundMe to help her Olympic efforts.
When Olympic discus thrower Veronica Fraley posted on X that she couldn’t pay her rent, Flavor Flav and Alexis Ohanian stepped up and offered to help. The outpouring of care caused the Vanderbilt student to launch a GoFundMe for anyone else who also wants to help.
Fraley is competing in the women’s discus throw at the 2024 Paris Games. She’s also a 2024 NCAA discus champion, The Tennessean reported.
Fraley kicked off her GoFundMe on August 1, writing on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Thank you to EVERYONE for your kind words and support. If you still want to help fuel my track and field journey, this is the best way! . Your support means the world. Please donate & share! 🙏❤”
Thank you to EVERYONE for your kind words and support. If you still want to help fuel my track and field journey, this is the best way! . Your support means the world. Please donate & share! 🙏❤
In her GoFundMe, she shares that she’s a 2x World Champion qualifier in women’s discus, and also wants to compete in the 2025 World Championships in Japan and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The GoFundMe, which had a goal of $20,000 when it launched, will help support her future track and field journey, in addition to her current Olympics competition.
Fraley Revealed That She Vanderbilt Only Gave Her Partial Rent for July
On her Instagram Story, Fraley revealed a series of messages she exchanged with Vanderbilt University. The first was an email from Bank of America telling her that Vanderbilt sent her $1,294 for her “July Session Off Campus.” She texted someone from Vanderbilt and wrote, “So my rent is almost 1700 I don’t understand this.”
Her Instagram Story showed their response, which read: “Since summer school is completed on the 8th, you will not get a full months rents. We could only give you partial rent.”
The news came to her the day before she was competing in the Olympics. On X, she tweeted that the treatment was unfair compared to how football players are treated.
“I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent 😒 my school only sent about 75% of my rent while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything 😂) enough to buy new cars and houses 👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾,” she wrote.
She later clarified in a second tweet that she’s not angry at Vanderbilt, but at NIL rules that favor “popularity over performance.”
She wrote: “Thanks for the supporting messages but I want to clarify my irritation isn’t with the school itself, mainly the rules that bar me from making the amount I’m WORTH as a collegiate athlete such as NIL which favors popularity over performance. that’s all I’m sayin. Wish me luck tm!”
Celebrities Are Helping Pay Her Expenses
In response to her messages, a number of celebrities offered to step in where Vanderbilt’s payment left off.
Rapper Flavor Flav, who’s a sponsor for the U.S. women’s water polo team at the Olympics, offered on X (formerly known as Twitter) to help pay what Fraley still owed, The Tennessean reported.
He tweeted: “I gotchu,,, DM me and I’ll send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry bout it TOMORROW,,, and imma be rooting for ya tomorrow LETZ GO,!!!” He later tweeted on August 1: “Man of word,,, and Imma try and come by and support you in person tomorrow ,,, LMK what time.”
Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and Serena Williams’ husband, also joined in and offered to help, Us Weekly reported. He offered to split the cost with Flavor Fav and asked her to send her cashtag so he could send her funds. Later, he shared a Venmo screenshot showing a $7,760 transaction, Us Weekly reported.
In an email to The Daily Beast, Flavor Flav said: “I’m just down to help those in need who are representing all of us. This is the type of awareness I’ve been trying to bring to these Olympians.”
Comments
Veronica Fraley Launches GoFundMe After Flavor Flav Offers to Pay Olympian’s Rent