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

liz roscher
Staff writer
·3-min read
EUGENE, OREGON - JUNE 27: Veronica Fraley poses with the bronze medal after placing third in the women's discus throw final on Day Seven of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field on June 27, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Veronica Fraley hasn't competed in the discus yet, but she's already a winner. She will be leaving Paris with her rent paid for the remainder of 2024 thanks to Alexis Ohanian and Flavor Flav. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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

Fraley, 24, is a student-athlete at Vanderbilt, and she posted on X about her financial situation, which is unfortunately a common one: despite being a world-class athlete who is about to compete at the Olympics, she can't afford rent.

Fraley put her thoughts into words and sent those words to the internet. Most of the time when you do that, nothing happens (or at least nothing good). But this time, a good soul who saw her tweet tagged Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and rapper and enthusiastic Team USA supporter Flavor Flav. Both are in Paris to watch the Games, and both saw her plea. They both pledged to help her.

And just as promised, they both came through.

The internet can be a cold, mean place, but today it had its arms wide open and was ready to enfold Fraley in a great big digital hug. Her mentions and replies are now filled with hundreds upon 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 of the women's water polo team has been wholesome and inspiring, found the perfect way to sum up the entire wonderful situation without making the 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 number of new fans, who will be cheering her on in person and on 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 entire list of verified Olympic athlete fundraisers and donate where they could.