From Harvard Grad To Olympic Champion: Gabby Thomas Wins Gold Medal In 200M Race – Essence

Golden girl Gabrielle “Gabby” Thomas delivered a sensational performance at the Stade de France stadium on Tuesday to capture her first individual Olympic gold medal in the women’s 200m race.

It was another Black Girl Magic winners’ podium for sprinters in Paris. Team USA secured gold and bronze, with St. Lucia’s 100m champion Julien Alfred capturing silver. This is the first time the U.S. has won gold in this race since Allyson Felix won in London back in 2012.

With two-time 200m world champion Shericka Jackson pulling out of the race because of an injury, all eyes were on Thomas and Alfred, who was hoping to capture the double quest to win both the 100m and 200m distances.  

Thomas clocked in at a remarkable time of 21.83, with Alfred close behind at 22.08, and USA’s Brittany Brown rounding out in third at 22.20. The Harvard graduate was a favorite to win and looked cool, calm, and collected as she sprinted to victory around the track in front of a crowd of almost 80,000 fans. As soon as she crossed the finish, you could see the visceral and emotional reaction to her win.

This is the third Olympic medal for Thomas, who earned a bronze in Tokyo for the 200m and silver from the 4×100 relay team. You can cheer on Thomas later this week as she is slated to run with Sha’Carri Richardson in the 4×100 relay again on Friday. In addition, she might also be a contender in the 4×400 relay final on Saturday.

A gold medal in the 200m has been a hard-earned goal for Thomas. At the 2023 World Championships, she placed second. According to USA Today, during the track and field Olympic trials in Eugene, O.R., Thomas was trying to decide if she should compete in both the 200m and 400m, “but decided to focus on the 200 because she was so intent on winning gold in Paris. After she won the 200 title, she said she had no doubts she’s made the right decision.”

Ironically enough, Thomas’ mother Jennifer Randall, who is an education professor at the University of Michigan, said she “had to prod Thomas to run when her daughter was younger.” But the rest is history. During her junior year of high school is Massachusetts, she “started locking in on track and field…Harvard recruited her to run in the 100m, 200m, and do the long jump and triple jump. In 2018, Thomas won the 200-m NCAA title, Time reports.

After graduation, Thomas headed to Austin, T.X. to train for the Tokyo Olympics. Of note, her qualifying time of 21.61 seconds during the 2021 trials is second only to track legend Florence Griffith Joyner.

But Thomas has also been putting in work off of the track. After Tokyo, she graduated with her master’s degree from the University of Texas in 2023, “where she wrote about racial disparities in sleep epidemiology.” Thomas says, “African Americans were more likely to have issues with sleep for social reasons and biological reasons…It led them to have lower life expectancy.” In addition, Thomas currently works at the Volunteer Healthcare Clinic offering “medical services to uninsured patients” where she serves as “director of the hypertension program.”

In addition to her incredible academic and athletic accolades—Thomas has been racking up endorsements with the likes of New Balance and Sephora, in addition to being named as the “face of Alexis Ohanian’s new women’s track event ATHLOS.”

Now the U.S. has five gold medals in track and field, with no other country even coming close and having more than two. In total, the U.S. has rounded up 16 medals in track and field, with Kenya and Jamaica tied at second, having four each.