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. On
Tuesday during the official handover of Team Nigeria to the Nigeria Olympic
Committee (NOC) and his investiture as the Grand Patron of the body, President
Muhammadu Buhari said budget for the 2016 Rio Olympics would be released on
time. TeamNigeria has 49 male and 29 female athletes who qualified to represent
the country in 10 sport disciplines at the event. The Olympic Games are held
every four years,with more than 200 nations participating. From 241
participants representing 14 nations in 1896, the Games have grown to about
10,500 competitors from 204 nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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