Flavor Flav and Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian team up to help Olympic athlete to pay her rent while she competes in Paris 2024
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not award prize money to Olympians for winning medals, but there are ways some of the best athletes are compensated.
In some cases, certain individual governments and private sponsors often pay the major participants with money and sometimes also with property, as reported by CBS News.
But in most cases, the typical athletes struggle to pay their living and training expenses, such as American team member Veronica Fraley, who competes in track and field as a discus thrower, made her financial situation public in a social media post on Thursday.
“I’m playing in the Olympics TOMORROW and I can’t even pay my rent. My school only pays 75% of my rent, while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything yet) enough to buy new cars and houses,” she shared on X (formerly Twitter).
Hip-hop legend Flavor Fav wasted no time in reassuring the discus thrower so she could focus on her task.
Rapper Flavor Flav, 65, came to the aid of Olympic athlete Veronica Fraley, who tweeted that she can’t even pay her rent while competing in the 2024 Paris Games
“I get you,,, DM me and I’ll send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry TOMORROW,,, and I’ll be rooting for you tomorrow. LET GO,!!!,” the rapper responded on X (formerly Twitter).
Less than 10 minutes later, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joined the conversation and offered his help.
“Come on! I’m sharing this with @flavorfav,” the 41-year-old businessman and husband of retired tennis star Serena Williams responded.
Less than two hours later, Ohanian returned to X and wrote, “Update! It’s done,” he simply wrote in a post, along with another post stating that Veronica Fraley had been awarded $7,760.
“Man of my word… and I’ll try to come cheer you on in person tomorrow… I’ll let you know what time,” the Fight The Power rapper replied to Fraley.
Fraley, 24, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, is a track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw. In April 2024, he set a new personal best of 67.17 meters during the Oklahoma Throws Series.
Because Fraley, who boasts that she can bench press an impressive 159 kilos, will participate in the Olympic Games in Paris for the first time in 2024.
The Public Enemy frontman promised to make a payment that same day so Fraley can focus on the task on Friday
Ohanian, who is set to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics with his wife Serena Williams and their two children, sent a message less than two hours later saying $7,760 had been paid out
Hey boyyyyy: Flavor Flav got ‘gotchu’ and pays North Carolina native Veronica Fraley’s rent
Flav has received a lot of positive publicity for his generous donation
It turned out that Flavor (born William Jonathan Drayton Jr.), 65, had already helped fund the U.S. women’s water polo team in Paris,
“My girl on the water polo team, her name is Maggie Steffens, she put out a story, you know what I mean, and my manager pointed me to the story,” he shared in an Instagram Story video. “So when I read the story, I said to myself, ‘Let me try to help these girls and get the glory.’”
Flav, who has become known as a hype man for U.S. women’s water polo, sponsored the team after learning that Steffens and other Olympians were having to work multiple jobs to support their athletic careers, according to NBC News.
Flav said through his representative that he “loves to help those who represent the best of us. This is exactly why I’m in Paris and the awareness I’m trying to raise for the needs of these athletes.”
When it comes to Olympic earnings for their performances, payouts can vary depending on the medals earned, but Team USA pays $37,500 in bonuses for a gold medal, $22,500 for a silver medal and $15,000 for a bronze medal, according to Live sports on TV.
It turned out that Flavor (born William Jonathan Drayton Jr.), 65, had already helped fund the U.S. women’s water polo team in Paris
Ohanian enjoys the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with his wife Serena Williams and their two children; the family is pictured at the opening ceremony on July 26
Flav said through the rep that he “loves to help those who represent the best of us. That’s exactly why I’m in Paris and the awareness I’m trying to bring to the needs of these athletes”; Flavor Flav is a visible fan of Team USA in Paris 2024
For comparison, other countries, such as Singapore, pay athletes $737,000 for a gold medal. That’s almost $700,000 more than the U.S., and that’s for people who qualify for a medal.
The Summer Olympics typically draw more athletes than the Winter Games. In 2024, 10,714 athletes from 206 countries will compete in Paris, plus coaches and team officials.
Fraley will compete in Group B at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Friday.
The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be broadcast by NBC, officially began on July 26 and will run through August 11.