Gabby Thomas has mentioned how her mother inspired her to succeed and achieve her dreams. The 27-year-old became a three-time Olympic gold medalist in Paris, but you would be surprised to know that the Harvard University alum wasn’t always interested in running. As it turns out not only her mother inspired her, but she was directly responsible for Thomas taking up track and field as a sport.

Growing up Thomas was into another sport entirely. But it took a wise call from her mother, Jennifer Randall, to realize her potential and turn her into the Olympic Champion that she is today.

Gabby Thomas enjoyed a very different sport

Coming into Paris, Gabby Thomas was eyeing an elusive gold medal. Three years ago, in Tokyo, she won bronze in the 200m, but this time she was not to be denied. Thomas won the gold in the 200m and followed it up by playing an instrumental role in Team USA’s gold medal finishes in the 4×100 and 4×400 relay races. Yet, the story could’ve been different if not for Randall.

Fresh off the golden treble at the Paris Olympics, the neurobiologist is already appearing in promos for the LA 2028 Olympics. While answering as many questions as she could in 28 seconds, Thomas was asked how she got into track and field.

The American athlete revealed, “My mom forced me into it. I wanted to play softball with friends,” during an episode of 28 seconds with LA28 on August 5. Incidentally, this video came out a day before Thomas would triumph in the 200m race.

Thomas was in the seventh grade when she made the switch from softball to track and field. Besides belonging to the rare breed that aced both sports and academics, Gabby Thomas was also interested in multiple sports. However, her PhD. holding mother made a judgment call. She understood that while her daughter played softball, she would excel in track and field.

While the 200-meter specialist may not have loved her mother’s decision, in hindsight, it worked out perfectly for Thomas. The sprinter also highlighted how her mother instilled the belief in her to succeed while revealing an eye-opening conversation she had with her.

Sprinting isn’t the only field where Gabby Thomas’s mother envisioned her daughter’s success. The professor mother also told her daughter that her “purpose” was to “give it back to your community.”

While speaking about Randall on The Daily Show on 14 August, Thomas said that her mother once told her it was important to give back to the community. “She was the best role model that I could have ever imagined having. She told me when I was 9, maybe 10 years old, that I had a light in me and that I was going to shine very brightly, and that it was my purpose to do so and give it back to the world,” Thomas said.

Gabby was 10 when Randall moved to Massachusetts to complete her PhD while teaching. Watching her single mother raise two children and go from being a waitress to her current position as the Dunn Family Chair of Psychometrics and Test Development impacted Thomas in a way big. During her conversation on LA28, she also said that “my biggest inspiration was her mom.”

Today, Gabby Thomas is a known name in track and field and continues her work in the healthcare sector. But did you know this University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston epidemiologist almost called it quits on running?

Jennifer Randall didn’t just fuel her daughter’s Olympic dreams; she also made sure quitting was never on the table!

Just because Gabby Thomas has nailed both Olympic medals and top grades doesn’t mean it was a walk in the park. The 5-time Olympic medalist spilled to Sports Illustrated on June 15 how she was struggling academically after failing in “Introduction to Internal Life Sciences” in her freshman year at Harvard. “I was actually failing. Not like that cute ‘failing,’ where people are like, ‘Haha!’ Like, I was gonna drop the class,” Thomas admitted.

Facing the prospect of either repeating the semester or switching majors, she was on the brink of giving up. But thanks to a supportive professor, she got a plan in place and graduated on time with her neurobiology degree. Fast forward to the summer after her sophomore year at Harvard, Thomas was ready to quit track.

Although she initially ran for fun and because she was good at it, she wanted to shift her focus to global health. Yet, learning about others’ struggles and reflecting on her mother’s tough upbringing made her reconsider. Randall, who grew up in dire conditions and put herself through school while raising Gabby and Andrew as a single mom, was a huge source of inspiration. “I remember thinking, if she could do that, then whatever I was doing was not hard,” Thomas shared.

Determined to balance her passions, Thomas chose an elite running program in Austin, Texas, near a top public health master’s program after her mother’s suggestion. She pushed herself through grueling training, saying, “I was not even close to being an Olympian myself. But I forced myself to go train with them, and I forced myself to get my butt kicked in practice every day for two years, so that when the time came, I was ready to make the Olympic team.” 

So, while Gabby Thomas might not have been thrilled about her mom pushing her into sprinting, she has no regrets. In fact, the Olympic champion is grateful for all the life lessons Jennifer Randall has imparted. What do you think about her mom’s role in Gabby’s career? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!