Gabby Thomas, 27, won the 200 meter dash during the U.S. Olympic trials this weekend, putting her on schedule to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. One would think as the games speedily approach, she’d be consumed by training and conditioning. However, Thomas refused to spend her whole 24 hours on the track.
Thomas studied neurobiology and global health at thee Harvard University and continued onto University of Texas for a master’s degree in public health, per Team USA. She tells Olympics.com her mother wanted her to go further to obtain her PhD but obviously, some other (and quite, major) things got put on her itinerary. She’d taken home a silver and a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympic games in 2020 for her performance in the women’s track and field events. In the same 200-meter event she tore up this weekend, she won a silver medal for at the World Championships last summer.
Though fostering her career as an Olympian, she never let go of what she loved to do: change lives. In between about six hours of training a day, she spends her evenings volunteering at the health care clinic in Austin to help people who don’t have health insurance.
“And then I get to go to the clinic and volunteer and make a difference in people’s lives,” she said to Olympics.com. “So I feel so fulfilled, and I feel so passionate about everything I do. And [that all] really just comes from gratitude.”
“Isn’t she exhausted?” you’re probably thinking. Nah, that’s just a Black woman doing what she does best: managing the weight of the world with an abundance of grace. Thomas tells NBC her work ethic, like many us, comes from her mother. She told the outlet when she and her twin brother were young, they watched their mother waitress until she could get herself into school to become a professor. To Thomas, it was example of how to go after your dreams no matter what’s on your plate, and keeping her plate full is what she prefers.
“It’s kind of a balancing act; but that’s the way I like it,” she said to Olympics.com. “I like coming home from track and having something completely different to focus on. And when I’m doing my clinic work, I can’t wait to get back to the track.”
Ultimately, Thomas tells NBC she plans to run a hospital or create a nonprofit organization to address the issue of healthcare insecurity. Right now, she’s headed to her second Olympic games event in Paris after winning the final 200 meter dash in the women’s trials at a time of 21.81.
“- it’s also exciting to know that people are supporting me, looking to me, looking at me to do something. The job isn’t finished,” Thomas said to OregonLive.