‘Can’t pay my rent’: Raleigh Olympic track and field athlete’s social post goes viral :: WRALSportsFan.com

By Lena Tillett, WRAL anchor/reporter

A Raleigh track and field athlete competing Friday in the Olympics has gone viral for a recent social media post complaining that she can’t afford her rent.

Veronica Fraley, a Raleigh native, is a graduate student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She’s working to obtain her second masters degree while competing professionally in the disc throw, a track and field sport. 

On Thursday she posted on X (formerly Twitter): “I compete in the Olympic Games tomorrow and can’t even pay my rent.”

Fraley wrote that her school helps partially with rent payments, but it’s not enough.

After the post went viral, Fraley responded, explaining she wasn’t bashing her school but the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) system for college athletes.

Fraley wrote she takes issue with the rules that bar her from making the amount she’s worth as a collegiate athlete, which favors popularity over performance.

People responded to her post, including rapper Flavor Flav, who offered to pay her rent, writing, “I gotchu, DM me so I can send payment TODAY so you don’t have to worry about this TOMORROW.”

Alexis Ohanian, the tech millionaire married to Serena Williams, offered to cover the rest.

The offers combined paid Fraley’s rent for the year.

Fraley performed well during the Olympic Trials and told WRAL News she hopes to stand on the podium for her first Olympic Games.

“Since I’ve gotten a little bit of experience at a national stage and a world stage, I think just going in there with a mindset of trying to shake some things up, you know, do some things that people may or may not be expecting, just putting my best foot forward,” she said.