This 22-Year-Old Crowdfunded Her Way To The Olympics After Funding For Women Was Cut And She Just Won BMX Gold
Olympic athletes are facing what may appear to others to be endless misery because they picked sports as a career path, and it is not an easy one to follow.
It demands both physical and mental strength. To be able to use equipment, train, and compete in contests, you must, of course, have money.
Even a shortage of funding couldn’t keep Bethany Shriever, a British BMX racer, from competing in the Olympics.
The United Kingdom discontinued financing female BMX racers to focus on preparing the male team, but Bethany found a way around it, and now she wears a gold medal around her neck.
Because the UK government did not set aside funds for the female squad, Bethany had to pay for her own way to the Olympics.
Instagram; pictured above is Bethany with her boyfriend
The issue is that preparing for the Olympics is extremely costly, and without government financing, this process becomes quite difficult.
She set up a crowdfunding campaign and was able to raise the funds she needed to travel to Tokyo.
However, since the Olympics is every athlete’s goal and the culmination of their careers, Bethany saw a solution.
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In 2019, she assessed how much it would cost to participate in Tokyo and started a crowdfunding campaign.
Her parents aided her as much as they could, and she also worked as a teaching assistant in a nursery to meet the £50,000 ($70,000) target she set for herself to fund her trip to Japan.
In March 2019, she shared her experience and the GoFundMe link on her Facebook page that read, “Today is international women’s day! Despite the promotions to narrow the gender gap in cycling there still remains a big barrier within the sport for women…funding!”
“In 2017 my funding, specifically women’s BMX racing, was taken away. Since then, I have been funding myself, with the help of mum and dad, towards my BMX racing.”
“With the amount of racing ahead of the Olympic year, we simply don’t have enough to get me to these events and it’s always been my dream to compete in the Olympics, I’m more than capable of getting there!”
“Any donation would mean the absolute world to me, big or small. Please like and share my page, my link is in my bio, go and check out my story. Let’s get to Tokyo!!”
Facebook; pictured above is Bethany’s post
What makes this case even more remarkable is that it wasn’t Bethany’s only stumbling block. She’s fractured her wrist three times and had to recuperate from a tibia and fibula fracture that required metal plates to be implanted in her leg. She endured, and she is now an Olympic champion.
Then she won the gold medal, demonstrating that any obstacle can be overcome!
She defeated Colombian Mariana Pajon, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who was also her idol. And now Bethany, together with her teammate Kye Whyte, has become an inspiration to many as Britain’s first BMX medalist.
“I’m more happy for her than I am for me,” Kye Whyte told the BBC after winning a silver medal just 10 minutes earlier. That girl puts in some serious, serious graft.”
It’s a significant victory because she’s the first British woman to win a medal in BMX sports.
Bethany told Sky News that she was still coming to terms with what had just happened: “It is still surreal. I haven’t had a chance to think about it, I haven’t had a chance to myself since the race. I’m over the moon.”
Knowing the circumstances, it was extremely surreal, and the result was a real close call as Bethany won by only 0.09 seconds. She should be especially proud because she achieved her goal on her own, and the award is well-deserved.
Everyone applauded Bethany’s determination after reading her story and believed that she deserved that win.
More About:Human Interest
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