If anyone told us that Gabby Thomas wasn’t always interested in track and field, we wouldn’t believe it for a second! The 27-year-old first stepped into the spotlight when she represented her nation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the 200m event, she locked horns with crème de la crème like Elaine Thompson-Herah and Christine Mboma at the Olympia stadium. She didn’t make it to the top step of the podium. But she got to go back to her life as an Olympic bronze medalist.

Three years later, the American smoked her competitors on the now iconic purple tracks at Stade de France. She had finally achieved what she wanted all along – winning an Olympic gold medal. But Thomas’ shocking revelation in a post-event conference will knock your socks off. Even though the sprinter “was pretty much born athletic,” she never really gave track and field a second thought. That is until her mother, Jennifer, pushed her to explore all her avenues. It’s safe to say her motherly instincts were bang on!

The sprinter was asked if she’d ever thought she would be a gold medalist after momentarily hating on the sport? Thomas flashed her pearly whites before confessing, “Absolutely not. So yeah, my mom did heavily encourage, almost forced me into it when I was in high school, because she knew I was fast.” The Olympian grew up enjoying a completely different sport, soccer. But she decided to consider her mother’s advice and gave the track and field a try.

By the time she made it to junior year, things took a turn for the better. “I ended up, I set goals for myself starting around my junior year and I fell in love with achieving those goals and pushing myself and going after it.” The 27-year-old soon realized that track and field was perfect for her because “you get in what you put out, or you get, yeah, what you put into it.” She was truly passionate about the sport for the remainder of high school. But when she stepped into college, she soon felt that love slip away. 

Balancing sports and academics got harder for Gabby Thomas as time went by. “I went through a little bit of a period in college where I fell out of love with it because it was very, very hard.” What did she not like about the sport? “You know, track is not exactly a fun activity in itself. You’re literally running and it’s hard and it’s painful and so when I wasn’t finding things to love about it or setting goals for myself, it was hard to enjoy it.” But she eventually found the beauty in it and Harvard played a huge role in it.

Gabby Thomas’ collegiate career was her defining point

The sprinter’s mother, Jennifer, attended the Duke University. So it only seemed natural that her daughter would do the same. But you don’t always get what you want, do you? The Olympian was asked to join Harvard’s athletics team to compete in the 100m, 200m, long jump and triple jump. Even though she’d listened to her mother’s advice before, she eventually went with her choice – Harvard. She reveals how this was a turning point for her.

Gabby Thomas was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology, but things got tough during her freshman year. As she stepped into junior year, she “fell back in love with the sport.” The sprinter went to set collegiate records in the indoor 60m, 100m and 200m. She also clinched 22 conference titles in 6 different events, and won the NCAA 200m indoor title in 2018. Once she realized this is what she wants to do, she eventually made the difficult choice of giving up her collegiate career to go pro.

Even after she graduated from Harvard University in 2019, the sprinter wanted to focus on track as well as her academics. She decided to pursue a master’s degree in public health at the University of Texas and joined the Buford-Bailey Track Club. Since then, the 27-year-old has been unstoppable. “I just love chasing goals, I love chasing my dreams, I love moments like this.” Her journey from being a little girl who wanted nothing to do with the sport, to now being an Olympic gold medalist has truly been inspiring.