Gabby Thomas, the 27-year-old star sprinter from Northampton, Massachusetts, won the gold medal in the women’s 200-meter final at the Paris Olympics in 21.83 seconds, but being an Olympian is only part of her story. Press Conference After her win, she said, “I want to inspire young people, to find their passion and be successful. I want young girls to look up to us.” [medal winners] As strong female athletes, we feel we can do it too.”
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To say Thomas is an exemplary athlete would be an understatement. She has certainly achieved many accolades in athletics, making her Olympic debut at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 200 meters and a silver medal in the 4×100 meters relay, and running as part of the team that won the gold medal in the 4×100 meters relay at the 2023 World Championships in Athletics. Round 1 The relay qualifying rounds at the Paris Games took place on Thursday, and the team, which also included Melissa Jefferson, Towanisha “TeeTee” Terry and Shakari Richardson, won the qualifying rounds and advanced to Friday’s finals.
But Thomas said NBC NewsShe attributes her success to “basically doing athletics part-time” and having “other things in life that allowed me to achieve my goals and feel fulfilled.” These weren’t just hobbies, but also things like studying neurobiology at Harvard, getting a master’s in public health, and volunteering at a clinic. (Casual!)
Here’s everything you need to know about Team USA’s track and field phenom, whose pursuit of a gold medal is apparently a very intense side quest.
1. Allyson Felix is her inspiration.
The all-time winningest Olympic athlete in track and field is Thomas’ idol, and he credits her with inspiring him to take up track and field (Thomas played softball and soccer in grade school, but didn’t take track and field seriously until he saw Felix running at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Beijing on TV at his grandmother’s house in 2008). Andscape“I’ve always been a fan of hers. I loved her elegance, and she’s so good.” In a sweet moment, Thomas was Felix’s teammate on Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, and she is now the first American woman since Felix to win an Olympic gold medal in the 200 meters.
2. Thomas recorded the world’s fastest 200-meter time this year.
If there’s one thing to know about Gabby Thomas’s track and field career, it’s that she shines in the 200 meters, a half-lap sprint that basically requires 100-meter speed, but with added endurance and the technique to keep the pace around curves in the track. This was the event Thomas was committed to. Recorded the world’s fastest timeIn the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, she clocked the fastest time of any athlete this year, a time of 21.78 seconds, just shy of the event’s world record of 21.34 seconds, set in 1988 by American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner (known as “FloJo”).