Paris 2024 Olympics: Flavor Flav, Alexis Ohanian help Team USA discus thrower pay rent after X report

Medal table | Olympic schedule | Olympic news

The celebrities who have come out of nowhere to loudly and proudly support Team USA have been a highlight of the 2024 Olympics. But two of those celebrities made some real magic on Thursday after seeing a social media post from Team USA discus thrower Veronica Fraley.

Fraley, 24, is a student-athlete at Vanderbilt University. On X (formerly Twitter), she posted about her unfortunately common financial situation: Despite being an elite athlete about to compete in the Olympics, she can’t pay her rent.

Fraley put her thoughts into words and sent them to the internet. Usually, nothing happens (or at least nothing good). But this time, a kind soul who saw her tweet tagged Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian and rapper and avid Team USA supporter Flavor Flav. Both are in Paris to watch the Games, and both saw her plea. They both promised to help.

And as promised, they both did.

The internet can be a cold, mean, hurtful place, but today the internet had its arms wide open and was ready to embrace Fraley in a big digital hug. Her mentions and comments are now filled with hundreds and hundreds of people sympathizing with her, wishing her well, and asking where they can contribute to help her and others like her.

Fraley thanked both Flav and Ohanian on X, and you could almost feel her smile through the words on the screen.

Flav, whose emotional and financial support for the women’s water polo team is invaluable and inspiring, found the perfect way to sum up the whole beautiful situation without making money the center.

Millions of people have now seen Fraley’s story and are more aware of how hard it is to be an Olympian when you’re not actually at the Olympics. She’s gained an incredible new fan base, who will be cheering her on in person and from their couches when she goes for gold next week.

Flav also made sure Fraley’s personal fundraiser was verified through GoFundMe and encouraged everyone to check out the full list of verified Olympic athlete fundraisers and donate where possible.