Gabby Thomas has been under the spotlight the whole 2024 season. Why so? She was one of the favorites to win an Olympic medal in the current campaign, which she eventually achieved. However, she has always credited her success to her mother, Jennifer Randall, who has made quite a lot of sacrifices to see her daughter climb up the ladder of success in life.

Whatever the 28-year-old has achieved in her track career, she has always been open about the struggles that she has gone through. All of her dedication and efforts in this campaign made her a three-time Olympic champion, but despite earning three golds in a single Games, she hasn’t forgotten about her past accolades that carved her road to greatness.

Journey to gleaming gold

Every track and field athlete out there always has a common goal in their mind. The moment they enter their professional careers, they aim for that gleaming Olympic gold medal. Gabby Thomas was also no different than others, as she understood the value of these accolades the moment she got a grasp of them at the Stade de France, owing to her performance in the women’s 200m, 4x100m relays, and 4×400 relays.

With this, she also became the first American female track athlete to win three Olympic gold medals in a single Games after Allyson Felix back in the 2012 London Olympics. Surely, these were the best moments in her life, but she hasn’t forgotten about her other Olympic medals, as seen on an X post by Athlos, stating, “I like to acknowledge my other two medals too when I talk and do these interviews because I’m a five-time Olympic medalist. My bronze and silver are my babies. They’re my first medals, and they got me to the gold.”

Gabby Thomas knows that she is a three-time Olympic champion, but she is also proud of the fact that she has five Olympic medals in her career. Apart from her gold medals in Paris this year, she earned a bronze and a silver medal back in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. In that edition of the Olympic Games, which was also her first time being present on the coveted stage, she performed to her best and placed third in the women’s 200m and second in the women’s 4x100m relays. While there was that regret about not securing the gleaming gold, she was still happy with her accolades, as it was her career-first Olympic medal and also a redemption from the 2016 US Olympic Trials, where she failed to qualify for the Games.

These two medals helped her carve her path to success, and she also craved more in her career. So, even though they don’t shine like the gold medals, they still have a top place in her heart for being the very first honorable accolades in her track journey. While multiple times Thomas has acknowledged her own talent for being a vital part of her success, she doesn’t shy away from crediting her mother, Jennifer. Despite being a single mother, she has raised her child perfectly, but this has also come with strictness, which has been beneficial to her.

Gabby Thomas sacrificing friends over track

Surely, Thomas has been basking under the light of glory since her accolades in Paris. But she hasn’t forgotten about the road she took that has helped her achieve so much success in the sport. So what road did she really take? In seventh grade, the sprinter was more of a softball enthusiast; however, her mother had different plans for her athletic career.

Speaking to LA28 on YouTube, the 28-year-old unveiled her mother’s tough decision, stating, “My mom forced me into it. I wanted to play softball with friends.” Yes, a strict parent was the reason she got into track and field, but it wasn’t something she regretted later on for obvious reasons. Jennifer knew the potential that her daughter had in the athletic realm, so why not maximize it by using that talent to the fullest? While working many shifts, she sacrificed a ton of time for her child, but watching Gabby Thomas excel later on in events such as the Olympic Games was a delight to her eyes and an answer to her hard work as a single mother.