Gabby Thomas is one of the fastest people in the world. The U.S. runner has won three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics: the women’s 200-meter race, the 4×100 meter relay and the 4×400 meter relay.
“You prepare for this moment and train so hard for this moment, but when it actually comes, it’s indescribable,” Thomas said after her decisive victory in the 200-meter final on Aug. 6.
It took her just 21.83 seconds to cover the distance and finish in first place.
She calls sprinting her “happy place.”
“I feel so happy running when I see the finish line in my sights, I just have that boost that I know I can get there, stretch my legs out and go,” Thomas told NBC after the 200-meter semifinals.
The 27-year-old athlete previously competed in the Tokyo Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter and silver in the women’s 4×100 meter relay.
Thomas is also impressive off the track. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center.
After training three-to-six hours a day, Thomas volunteers at a clinic in Austin, Texas, for people who don’t have health insurance. She leads a hypertension program there and told NBC News she ultimately dreams of running a hospital or a nonprofit to expand access to healthcare.
Here’s what to know about the track and field star, and her health:
She calms herself down before running
TODAY’s Hoda Kotb marveled at how calm Thomas appeared when she arrived in Paris as the heavy favorite to win the 200-meter race.
“I knew coming into this that it was going to be an immense amount of pressure and just so much weight on my shoulders in a way that I’d never experienced before,” Thomas said in a segment that aired on Aug. 7.
“I realized I was going to have to compartmentalize that.”
She did it by keeping things light, joking around with the other competitors and “not making the moment too heavy” — until it was time to set up for the race in the starting blocks.
While other runners might turn to high-tempo music for a boost of energy before they compete, Thomas doesn’t listen to her “pump-up playlist” at all before her race.
“I want to be so Zen, I want to be so relaxed, and I want to preserve my energy,” she told NBC’s Savannah Sellers.
“And then the split second when the gun goes off, that’s when I want to feel that pump-up energy.”
To avoid being distracted by her competitors or the crowd, she picks a point on the track and just concentrates on sprinting toward it. “You need to have a focus when you’re in that moment,” she says.
She loves the rush of running
Thomas is considered a late bloomer to the sport. She initially played softball and soccer as a teen, and ran in high school, but it wasn’t until her time at Harvard that she started becoming a standout athlete in track.
“It’s really easy to fall in love with running,” Thomas told USA Today. “It can be painful at times, but it’s such a beautiful sport. You set goals and go after them in the purest form — and when you achieve those goals, it’s such an addicting feeling.”
Winning the gold medal took a lot of years and a lot of patience, she said on TODAY, thanking everyone who helped her along the way.
“I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard for anything in my life,” Thomas added. “It all came together for this moment.”
She prioritizes sleep
“As you mature as an athlete, you realize just how important sleep is,” Thomas told The Washington Post. “Not just to be an elite athlete, but just to be a functional human.”
She now gets at least eight hours of sleep a night.
Sufficient sleep is important for peak athletic performance, the International Olympic Committee noted in a 2019 statement addressing mental health in elite athletes.
All healthy adults — whether they’re competing in the Olympics or not — need to sleep at least seven hours a night for optimal health, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine advises.
She takes care of her mental health
The athlete makes time for recovery and rest, and follows her passions other than running.
“The way I became successful in track and field was basically running track part time, and I think for me, that’s really important for my mental health,” Thomas told NBC’s Kate Snow. “Just having other things in my life that help fulfill my goals and make me feel fulfilled.”
That includes volunteering at the Austin clinic, where she likes knowing she’s making a difference in people’s lives.
Thomas also spends time with her dog, a pug named Rico. The athlete says she gets a lot of emotional support from her furry companion.
When things “aren’t going super well, it’s easy to feel like I’m a failure. Instead of sitting in that, I got a friend. Adopting Rico is the best thing I ever did,” Thomas told Women’s Running.
She enjoys low-impact exercise
The sprinter makes room for Pilates in her routine, embracing the way her body shakes during the intense core workout. She describes it as “really hard,” but also relaxing.
“Pilates is humbling,” Thomas told Women’s Health. “As an Olympian in that room, not being able to do a lot of the exercises that they’re doing, you really realize how many small muscles that you don’t activate every day.”
Pilates can be done on a mat or on a reformer machine. When TODAY’s Craig Melvin tried the reformer version, he called it “perhaps the most intense exercise” he’d ever done.
Gabby Thomas height
The sprinter is 5 feet, 10 inches tall, according to her official Olympic profile.
How many siblings does Gabby Thomas have?
She has a twin brother, Andrew, and three younger siblings — Desi, Tyler and Kim, according to her Olympic profile.
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This article was originally published on TODAY.com
