Gabby Thomas: Olympic gold medalist and academic star

Gabby Thomas’ brilliance doesn’t seem to have many boundaries. She won a gold medal in the 200-meter track event in the 2024 Paris Olympics, but also brings supreme brainpower to the equation as a Harvard graduate. We’ll take a closer look at her unique combination of intelligence and speed.

Gabby Thomas didn’t just claim gold in the 200 meters; she blew out the competition. AP News noted that she grabbed the lead after the curve, and no other runner came close to her as the race winded down.

Thomas only focused on one thing, at the request of her coach, Tonja Buford-Bailey. “The only thing I needed to do was get the lead. Get the lead and then finish strong. And I did that,” Thomas told AP News.

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The 27 year-old had a respectable performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the same event, finishing with a bronze medal. But she desperately wanted to grand prize in the 2024 Games. “If I didn’t get this gold medal today, I don’t know what I would have done,” Thomas told AP News.

According to Self’s website, track wasn’t at the front of Gabby Thomas’ athletic interests growing up. She was more interested in playing softball and soccer. However, that would change after she watched Allyson Felix prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics on television.

Thomas told Andscape, “I was always a fan watching her. I loved her grace, and she’s so accomplished.”

Thomas didn’t really jump into the track world headfirst, which may have led some of the premier track universities to overlook her when she was applying to college. However, this formula worked for her. “The way I became successful in track and field was basically running track part time,” she told NBC News.

Thomas would go on to say “That’s really important for my mental health, just having other things in my life that helped fulfill my goals and make me feel fulfilled.”

Thomas would end up at Harvard, where she became a track star. Her coach Kebba Tolbert believes that her success underscores an important point. He told The Crimson, “To have people in the Olympics doing well shows that the Ivy League is Division I. You can come and get an amazing education…and compete at the highest levels. There’s no sacrifice.”

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Self’s website noted that Thomas was extremely motivated to excel in the classroom, as her single mother had made a lot of sacrifices to get her to college. Thomas was a neurobiology major at Harvard, and she also minored in public health.

Thomas was particularly motivated by the lessons she learned in the public health realm, and got her master’s degree in that field at the University of Texas.

According to AP News, Thomas’ divergent life experiences seemed to overlap when she was in graduate school. She wrote a paper on the importance of sleep, which had always been an integral component of her training regimen as an athlete.

Finding spare time might be a challenge for Thomas, who juggles a few different interests. However, according to the Olympics’ website, Thomas makes the time to volunteer at the Volunteer Healthcare Clinic near her home in Austin, Texas, for people who do not have insurance. She reportedly works with patients to make sure they keep their appointments and follows doctor’s orders when monitoring blood pressure.

This is just the beginning of Thomas’ grand plans to help improve the community around her. Self’s website notes that she wants to open a hospital or nonprofit organization to extend access to health care for underprivileged neighborhoods.

Thomas told Sports Illustrated that she isn’t sure how much her life will change as an Olympic champion, and didn’t want to focus on that part of the story heading into the Olympics. Sports Illustrated believes there is a decent chance she participates in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Thomas told Yahoo Sports, “I want to inspire the youth to continue to find their passions and be successful. I want young girls to look at us as strong female athletes and feel like they can do it too. They’re inspired to be kind to people and to give back to their communities when they can, and if I can leave that message with the world then I’ve done my job.”

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