The City of Light truly shone brightly for none other than Gabby Thomas. The 27-year-old only managed to earn a silver and bronze medal in track and field at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, knowing that things would be different this time around. In her second stint at the Summer Games, the Olympian redeemed herself, returning home with three pristine Olympic gold medals. 

If this doesn’t convince you that she’s a beast on the track, perhaps the opinions of Justin Gatlin and Rodney Green might. On an August 24 episode of Ready Set Go, the track legends discussed and analyzed Thomas’s performance at the French capital. While discussing the 4x400m sprinters’ results at Stade de France, the former American athlete stated, “The only one who came close to [Tebogo] would be Gabby for her three gold medals of the 200m, the 4x100m and the 4x400m.” How many rounds did she have to contest?

The Bahamian sprinter chimes in, “Yeah, she did three rounds of the 200m, two rounds of the 4x100m, and one round of the 4x400m.” Gatlin emphasized how this represented a significant workload in the French capital, noting that it was reminiscent of the “OG workload” from back in his time. Gatlin, who competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics, mentioned how everyone had to do four rounds for each event they contested. 

The retired sprinter continued, “We was running four rounds of 100m. No negotiation. You had to run four rounds no matter who you was. Defending Olympic champion? Fastest one coming in? Doesn’t matter everybody ran four rounds.” Everyone had to show up to the tracks at 8 AM. “So that already tell you right there then you had to run four rounds of the 200,” Gatlin stated. If that wasn’t intense enough, he pointed out that they would come back to run three rounds of the 4x100m. 

Perplexed by the scenario, Green confessed, “Listen like you always say that’s a tall order.” After both the legends laugh in disbelief, they hype Thomas and the other sprinters up. “But yeah man shouts out to all of them man.” While this feat isn’t unheard of, the 27-year-old truly pushed her boundaries to achieve what she had been yearning for all this time—the coveted Olympic gold medal. But this didn’t surprise the sprinter, considering it was always part of the plan. 

Gabby Thomas reveals the masterplan for her performance in Paris

A subpar performance at the Tokyo Olympics, a sudden health scare, and sitting out an entire season—this is what Gabby Thomas’s climb looked like leading up to the Paris Olympics. However, undeterred, the 27-year-old didn’t waver from her goal of winning her first Olympic gold medal. On August 7, she was set to face off against 100m Olympic champion Julien Alfred, who was now poised as the pre-race favorite.

But the sprinter didn’t let that hold her back. Setting up in lane 7, she sped past the St. Lucian athlete and held onto her early lead as much as she could. With 21.83s on the clock, the 27-year-old crossed the 200m finish line well ahead of her competitors. Her quest for the top step of the podium was complete. She replicated the same result in the 4x100m relay, with her split of 10.23s helping Team USA clinch gold in 41.78s on August 9.

Similarly, she had the same plan in the 4x400m relay. Her split of 49.30s helped them cross the finish line in a new American record time of 3:15.27s on August 11. So what was the secret sauce? “We didn’t want this [Paris] to be my first Olympics. We wanted Tokyo to be the first one to train and be prepared for the Paris Olympics to go for gold this year.” She exclaimed, “This is six years in the making, at least.” 

Do you agree with the track field legends? Let us know in the comments.