Less than 13 days to the
world's foremost sports
competition, the 2016
Olympics Games holding in
Rio, Brazil, Nigerian athletes
have taken to the social
media platform to crowd-
source funds for the
competition.
American-born Nigerian
sprinter, Regina George, who
represented the country at
the 2012 Summer Olympics,
has launched the campaign
on the World's number one
personal fundraising
website, gofundme.com.
GoFundMe is a crowdfunding
platform that allows people to
raise money for events
ranging from life events such
as celebrations and
graduations to challenging
circumstances like accidents
and illnesses. The company
is based in San Diego,
California
It allows users to create
their own website to describe
what they are raising money
for. During this process,
members can describe their
fundraising cause, the
amount they hope to raise,
and upload photos or video.
Once the website is created,
GoFundMe allows users to
share their project with
people through integrated
social network links
(Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and
email. People can then donate
to a user’s cause through
the website using only a
debit card or credit card and
track the progress of their
funding. Those who donate
can also leave comments on
the website in support of the
project. GoFundMe generates
revenue by automatically
deducting a 5% fee from each
donation users receive. If
the user receives no
donations, then no charge is
made.
George, a silver medalist at
the African Championships in
2012, who is seeking to
raise $4, 000 (four thousand
dollar), described her cause
which she titled ‘Help get me
to the Olympics’ thus:
“To all my family friends and
fans thanks for being here
for me through the good
times and bad times. This
year it's been hard
financially for me but it
wouldn't have been possible
without your support. I just
been told that we will have to
pay our own way to the
Olympics this year . Sadly
this is such short notice for
me to come up with the
money. They also promised a
refund but I'm still waiting for
many refunds promised in
the past. I been through a
lot of obstacles this year and
through it all I made my
SECOND Olympic team. I don't
want to stop now after I
earned a spot to represent
my country in the Olympics.
Any donation will help my
situation. This will not go
unnoticed and I'm truly
grateful for my supporters.
Help spread the word!”
George anchored the United
States 4 × 400 m team to a
gold medal ahead of the
Nigerian team which placed
second at the 2010 World
Junior Championships in
Athletics. At this
championship meet, George
expressed her desire to run
for Nigeria to Nigerian coach,
Gabriel Okon. She began to
compete for Nigeria in 2012,
ahead of the African
Championships and London
Olympics.
The 2012 Nigerian champion
will represent Nigeria in the
4x400m race at Rio Olympic
Games which starts on 5th
August.
Supporting her claim is
Nigeria’s fastest man, Seye
Ogunlewe, who also took to
micro-blogging site, Twitter,
to urge corporate
organistations to rise to the
needs of the country
athletes. In a series of
tweets, using the hashtag, #
helpnigerianathletes, the son
of Lagos politician, Seye
Ogunlewe, lamented the
sorry states the athletes
are.
“Just so everyone knows we
all got that message saying
we should get our own
tickets to Rio! #
helpnigerianathletes,” he
posted.
It will be recalled that there
were reports that there were
no funds for Nigerian
athletes for the 2016 Rio
Olympics., which prompted
federal lawmakers to call for
immediate release of funds to
the Ministry of Sports to
facilitate the country’s
preparations at the 2016 Rio
Olympic Games earlier this
month.