Crowdfunding, Flavor Flav, Alexis Ohanian Support Olympians

If the Summer Olympics have you ever feeling patriotic, there’s a straightforward technique to show your support for America’s athletes: give them money.

Roughly 600 athletes are in Paris this summer representing Team USA, and while there are some notably wealthy superstars in the combo — like NBA icon LeBron James, whose net value is reportedly over $1 billion — many are scraping by. Kaleigh Gilchrist, a three-time member of the ladies’s Olympic water polo team, estimated in a USA Today article that only 5% of Olympians reap huge financial rewards from competing at the best level: “The remaining of us live paycheck by paycheck,” she said.

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee awards athletes with $2.5 million annually in scholarships and grants to pay for his or her education, travel, medical and training expenses. American Olympians receive payments of $15,000 to $37,500 for every medal they win, and a few portion of athletes have lucrative sponsorship deals. Yet most don’t earn any money for competing of their sport.

To make ends meet, Olympians and their families are increasingly turning to social media and crowdfunding campaigns asking for direct financial help. It’s a technique that appears to be working, especially because of high-profile donors like rapper Flavor Flav and Reddit cofounder (and husband of tennis all-time great Serena Williams) Alexis Ohanian.

Ads by Money. We could also be compensated for those who click this ad.Ad

Veronica Fraley, an American track-and-field star competing in the ladies’s discus throw, proudly announced on X (formerly Twitter) Friday that she “paid my rent this morning.” That is noteworthy since the day before, Fraley posted a special message griping, “I compete within the Olympic Games TOMORROW and might’t even pay my rent.”

The post grabbed the eye of Ohanian — who promptly sent her $7,760 on Venmo.

Flavor Flav, a founding member of Public Enemy who teamed up with Ohanian to assist Fraley with rent money, had already been heralded because the American women’s water polo top supporter after promising to sponsor the team. He offered assist in response to an Instagram post in May from four-time Olympian and team captain Maggie Steffens.

“Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or third) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!),” she wrote. “Most teams depend on sponsors for travel, accommodations, dietary support, rent/lodging, and easily affording to live at the moment. Especially female sports and feminine athletes.”

USA Water Polo later proclaimed Flavor Flav as their “official hype man” after he signed a five-year sponsorship deal for the boys’s and ladies’s national teams. The surprising partnership has generated an unprecedented amount of attention for the game, especially because of viral TikToks showing the rapper cheering on the ladies’s team in Paris with the likes of First Lady Jill Biden.

“Area of interest sports often do not get the highlight they deserve, but they’re filled with incredible talent and heart,” Flavor Flav said in an announcement. “Together, we will make some serious waves!”

Crowdfunding for Olympic athletes

Beyond celebrity donations, Olympic athletes and their families have been raising money for his or her training and expenses through crowdfunding campaigns. Fraley’s GoFundMe campaign has generated over $15,000 from greater than 400 promised donations lower than 24 hours after it launched on Thursday.

Probably the most high-profile campaigns benefited Dylan Beard, an Olympic hopeful in hurdles who was a full-time worker on the deli counter for Walmart. Since he appeared on the Today show in April, Beard’s GoFundMe has raised greater than $55,000. (Unfortunately, Beard ultimately didn’t qualify to compete within the 2024 Games.)

Meanwhile, members of the family of sprinter Brittany Brown and wrestler Aaron Brooks are covering their travel costs in France because of campaigns which have raised greater than $9,000 and $6,000, respectively. One more campaign, funding the expenses for Robyn Rabinovitch, a swim coach and the mother of open water swimmer Ivan Puskovitch, has raised around $29,000.

The trend isn’t exclusive to the U.S. Athletes from Australia and Great Britain, amongst other countries, are also running crowdfunding campaigns to assist them pursue their dreams.

Some athletes are even using crowdfunding in retirement. A campaign for Mary Lou Retton, the legendary American gymnast who won five Olympic medals in 1984, originally set a fundraising goal of $50,000 to assist cover her extensive medical debts related to her battle against a rare type of pneumonia. The campaign, launched last yr on the Spotfund platform, has now amassed greater than $450,000.

Ads by Money. We could also be compensated for those who click this ad.Ad