Very few came close to what Gabby Thomas achieved at the Paris Olympics… A three-gold-medal feat that has brought her into the elite fold of American female sprinters who have done the same: Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988), Wilma Rudolph (1960), Valerie Brisco-Hooks (1984), and the most recent to do it, Allyson Felix (2012).

Her first gold came in the 200m, where she demonstrated her dominance by finishing in 21.83 seconds, ahead of 100m gold medalist Julien Alfred by a razor-thin margin of 0.25 seconds. But her job was far from done. When she won the relay 4x100m team event, fans weren’t half as surprised. Piggybacking on a winning Olympic high, Thomas registered a 49.30-second split time in the third leg to win in the 4x400m, a sub-50 clocking time she last managed to do in a low-key Austin meet in May 2023!

The dust has now settled in the Stade de France. And it’s time to think ahead. This is especially true for the 27-year-old Texan as she has now decided her goal beyond her track ambitions. Gabby Thomas sat down for an interview with TODAY to speak about her ambitions and future plans. She said,

“When my track career is over, I would love to continue to get back to my community. My mom always instilled that the most important thing is to be a member of society that gives back and so I’d love to run my own nonprofit and stay in the healthcare space and get back to the community and people who don’t have access to health care.”

In fact, just days before her second Olympic run, she was interviewed by The Guardian. A woman of her word, Gabby was firm with what she wanted to do and what was expected of her, “It’s important for me to show by example,” she said. “I love representing myself as an African American woman and I want to show young people that they can be who they want to be. That you can go to Harvard. That you can win an Olympic medal.”

She certainly delivered on her promise. After all, she wouldn’t, or rather couldn’t, dare underestimate how much power and strength resides in a single individual to change things for the better. Take one of the initial life-changing events in Gabby’s life for example. Gabby was just 10 when her mother Jennifer Randall decided to peel away from the realities of a low-income household residing in Mobile, Alabama. The family would thrive harder as they moved to predominantly white spaces where surviving always meant for them to be a top dog in the game. For starters, it meant securing scholarships in schools. She confessed,

“That put that underdog mentality in me where I felt like I needed to prove that I belonged in every space that I was in. Because I just didn’t feel like I did.”

And guess who was there in the stands cheering for her as she won her first gold in Paris? Not her mother but her high school math teacher and track coach from Williston Northampton School, Martha McCullagh. Apparently, believe it or not, Harvard graduate and 5x Olympic medalist once used to struggle with math and running! Training under her teacher to score better in algebra, calculus, running start, baton hand-overs, and whatnot, McCullagh saw many a victory bells ringing Thomas’s way, a ritual in Williston which the student-athletes carry and ring when they win a race.

McCullagh was emotional when she said, “I’m honored that she considers me a friend. To even be a little part of her journey to the Olympics … to see Gabby on the world stage, where she is performing with the world’s best — she is one of the world’s best.”

Thomas’ passion for running a non-profit likely stems from her academic background—she graduated from Harvard University with a degree in neurobiology and global health, followed by a master’s in epidemiology from the University of Texas. Even today, when she’s not competing, Thomas volunteers at clinics in Austin. “My mom has believed in me since I since I’ve been born,” she continued saying, “She started as a waitress and then worked her way and now as a professor…”

One of the leading scholars in psychometrics Randall, who gets too nervous to watch her daughter race, definitely became a proud mom watching her spirits sprinting away to be the first to cross the finish line.