Vanderbilt Facing Intense Backlash After U.S. Olympian’s Heartbreaking Plea

A simple plea from one Olympian on social media resulted in some major good coming her way. But it also led to some major criticism against Vanderbilt, the school she's currently attending as a graduate student.

On Thursday, US Olympic track and field athlete Veronica Fraley drew the attention of millions of people online with an X post she made. The two-time national champion discus thrower revealed that she was worrying about her rent ahead of her Olympic debut on Friday.

"I compete in the Olympic Games TOMORROW and can’t even pay my rent my school only sent about 75% of my rent while they pay football players (who haven’t won anything ) enough to buy new cars and houses," Fraley wrote.

The post has been viewed over 15 million times as of Thursday night. It also caught the attention of rapper Flava Flav, who volunteered to pay Fraley's rent.

While Fraley received the support that she needed, attention soon turned to Vanderbilt. A handful of fans called out the university for not stepping up to help one of their most successful athletes.

The conversation surrounding Fraley's post largely centered on her mention of Vanderbilt's football team. Several came to the defense of Fraley for asking just for enough to cover her rent as an Olympic representative of the school.

"Y’all talking about 'football brings in more money blah blah blah' as if she doesn’t go to VANDERBILT! They’ve been a-- in football since I’ve been alive. She’s allowed to call out the hypocrisy tf! Please stop the madness," said one fan.

"Vanderbilt went 2-10 last year. They haven’t had player drafted in the NFL since 2021. She’s not only representing Vanderbilt, but also the nation. They need to be rolling out the red carpet," said another.

"Amazing by Flavor," said a different fan. "Vanderbilt has SEC money, their football program is a perennial basement dweller and they can't bother to take care of an Olympic athlete's rent?"

Fraley later clarified that her post wasn't meant to throw shade at the Vanderbilt football team. But rather, she wanted to point out how NIL favors popularity over success.

Vanderbilt has arguably had the worst football team in the SEC over the past decade. They've posted 2-10 records in two of the past three seasons and were 0-9 during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

The Commodores haven't had a winning record since 2013.

Fraley's 2024 Olympic journey officially begins on Friday, Aug 2 as the women's discus throw event kicks off at 12:55 E.T. The final for the event is slated for Monday.

Related: Andy Murray Had Brilliant Five-Word Response To Olympic Exit