Olympic glory is thrilling, but it doesnât always pay the bills.
Veronica Fraley, a discus thrower on Team USA, shared as much earlier this week, when she told her followers on X that she was struggling to make ends meet.
âI compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and canât even pay my rent,â she on X, punctuating with an emoji wearing an incredulous expression.
Enter Flavor Flav, the of the US water polo teams, and Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian. The men, whoâve been at the Paris Olympics all week, banded together to not only pay Fraleyâs rent for the month but cover her rent for the rest of 2024.
âIâm just happy to help those who are representing the best of all of us,â Flav said in a statement to CNN. âThis is exactly why I have been in Paris. I am trying to bring awareness of some of the hardships Olympians experience. They are out here working two to three jobs just to get by.â
Fraley, a first-time Olympian and a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, shared her financial troubles on X on Thursday, the day before her qualifying event.
âMy school only sent about 75 per cent of my rent while they pay football players ⌠enough to buy new cars and houses,â she wrote on X, noting that the Vanderbilt Commodores football team âhavenât won anything.â (Last season, the team won two games and lost 10. Vanderbilt doesnât make its athletesâ earnings through â or name, image and likeness â deals public, but a revealed that top college football players could make hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.)
Vanderbilt University did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
Flav found Fraleyâs post and pledged his support.
âI gotchu,â he . âDM me and Iâll send payment TODAY so you donât have to worry bout it TOMORROW.â
A representative for Flav confirmed to CNN that the Public Enemy co-founder paid Fraleyâs rent in full and that Ohanian paid her rent for the rest of 2024.
CNN has reached out to Ohanianâs representatives for comment. Meanwhile, Ohanian a screenshot on X of a transaction in which he sent Fraley $7,760.
Fraley thanked Flav and Ohanian in a post, âââthis makes every difference in the WORLD & I hope to represent team USA well this week.â
And for curious followers, Fraley confirmed on Friday that she âpaid (her) rent this morningâ with a bevy of grateful emojis.
Fraley will compete in the discus throw qualifier Friday afternoon. In a sharing her GoFundMe page, she said she plans to tackle a world championship in 2025 and, eventually, the 2028 Summer Games.
Flavor Flav, Alexis Ohanian show up for women's sports
Flav has been one of the most consistent and vocal supporters of women athletes at the Paris Olympics. He sprung into action earlier this year when he that several players on the US womenâs water polo team were working multiple jobs to support themselves. Now, he both the US menâs and womenâs water polo teams.
âHopefully this will open up the door for other celebrities to do what Iâm doing and come and sponsor some of these Olympic teams,â he âTodayâ in an interview from the Games. âWhen people arenât really out here competing, theyâre home, working ⌠Thereâs nothing wrong with coming in and giving that little extra push.â
Ohanian, too, has backed womenâs sports as a fan and financier. (Heâs married to all-time tennis great Serena Williams, after all, and her as âthe prototype for how you can show womenâs sports is ⌠on the same level as menâs.â) The venture capitalist has invested in Angel City FC, Los Angelesâ professional womenâs soccer team, and is hosting an event for women runners later this year with a US$60,000 prize.
Athletes arenât paid to compete at the Olympics, though some countries . So Ohanian a challenge: If the runners who were competing at both his event and the Olympics won a gold medal in Paris, heâd pay them US$60,000 ahead of his own race.