“When I get on the block I motivate myself and think: “Let’s go, one shot, no second chance”. But when I got on the phone, my mind went blank. I don’t want to get too focused on anything. It was just a reaction to the gun. Hay is in the barn. You have completed all training. It should be muscle memory at this point. Thinking too much will only strain your body and slow you down.
Gabby Thomas wants you to know exactly how she felt in the seconds leading up to her Olympic final. Adrenaline flooded her body with dam-breaking force, and her mind tried to clear itself before the starting gun went off. That inner conflict. Fight before flight.
“There’s so much energy in this moment,” she said. “It could be fear, nervousness, anxiety, excitement, happiness, even depression, all of them. But in reality, the adrenaline rush makes me feel almost calm, almost drowsy. Sometimes I even yawn on the phone . But that’s not a bad thing. Then the gun goes off and you pass out.
When it comes to explaining the science of speed, and applying theory to practice, no one is sharper or smarter than Thomas. Not only is the 27-year-old a favorite for 200m gold in Paris and one of the fastest women in history, but she also happens to have a degree in neurobiology from Harvard University.
That became clear when we sat back and watched her remarkable performance over 200m at last year’s US trials, frame by frame, step by step. For the first two-thirds of the race, she trailed Shakari Richardson, who was already out of the gun. But Thomas remained calm. She continued to glide in a calm state with plenty of energy in the tank – and in the final 50 meters she dropped her payload.
As she crossed the finish line, the clock stopped at 21.60 seconds, making her the fourth-fastest woman in history – behind Florence Griffith-Joyner and two Jamaicans, Shea Rika Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Hera. However, what stands out most when Thomas talks about her performance is how she spotted tiny clues that she believed could make her run faster. The angle of her body. The way her feet hit the ground. Especially during the driving phase before she turns.
“I’m a Type A person who likes to analyze my running style,” she said. “I would talk to my coach about it over and over again. She told me not to get caught up in it all the time. Because when you think too much, you start to slow down. But especially the driving phase, we need to go over it again Practice it again and again and meticulously. It’s very, very technical, but it prepares you for the entire race.
“If I can get that part stronger, I’ll be very, very hard to beat. When you look at Flo-Jo’s 200m world record, her second 100m is crazy, astronomical in fact. So. This is what you really want to do: your first 100 meters prepares you for an unreal second 100 meters.
So, can Flo Joe’s world record finally be broken 36 years after the Paris Olympics? Especially given the lightning-fast track of the Stade de France and the advancements in super spike technology? Thomas nodded.
“I think Shericka can do that,” he said. “I think I’m capable of achieving that in the Olympics if the conditions are right. The super-fast tracks are incredible right now and my sponsor New Balance has put a lot of development into our studs. You really feel like you’re getting a lot out of the track.
However, before that, Thomas will have his final preparation game in the London Diamond League this Saturday. It’s a strong field that includes Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Darryl Netta, as well as talented young St. Lucian Julian Alfred. But after running 21.78 seconds this year — much faster than everyone else in the field — Thomas is on track to win again.
She also knows that millions of eyes will now be on her, especially in Paris, since becoming one of the stars of Netflix’s new six-part track and field drama “Sprint.” Remarkably, it captures not only her successes on the track – including a gold medal in the 4x100m relay behind Jackson at last year’s world championships in Budapest and a silver medal in the 200m – but also her egos, frenemies and Tension.
“When I first entered the industry after college, I was a little shocked by how insidious, divisive and dramatic many of the environments were,” she said. “But it’s also a race, so I understand that. I would say a third of the guys grew up running together or were in a training group, so they’re friends. A third of the guys really The ones who don’t like each other, that’s the nature of the movement, and then a third just mind their own business and go their own way.
But Thomas’ life has never been defined solely by track and field. Last summer, she added a master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas to her resume and spent her free time volunteering at a clinic in Austin that provides health care to people without health insurance.
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“It’s important to me to lead by example,” she said. “I like to portray myself as an African-American woman, and I want to show young people that they can be who they want to be. You can go to Harvard. You can win an Olympic medal.
But she also wants them to know her journey won’t be easy. Her mother, Jennifer Randall, raised her as a single parent and how the drive and values she instilled in her helped her thrive.
“She’s a go-getter,” Thomas said. “She grew up in real poverty in Mobile, Alabama. But she went after it. She just showed me through her actions what it was like to do the same thing.
“We are low-income African Americans,” she added. “But my mom was trying to make us successful, which meant living a predominantly white life and relying on scholarships to get into good schools. This gave me a loser mentality where I felt like I needed to prove that I belonged in everyone I was in. a space.
“While it was a little challenging for me growing up, I do think it helped me progress in all aspects of my life,” she added. “Having to prove myself academically at Harvard made me struggle more in other social spaces, especially on the field.”
One day, Thomas said she might return to academia to pursue a PhD, which would please her mother, who has become one of the top scholars in the field of psychometrics. But for now, she is focusing on other things and preparing for her trip to Paris.
“Visualization means a lot to me,” she said. “Part of my warm-up routine for every game is to imagine success. But I also do it the night before. I see everything. I imagine who is playing against me, everything from start to finish, even me at the end. How to celebrate. Essentially, if you think about it enough and the mind starts to believe it, the body will believe it too. It’s really powerful how you trick your brain into doing things. And how to follow, it’s crazy.
With Jackson struggling for form in 2024, Thomas has emerged as the favorite for Olympic gold. If all goes according to plan on August 6 (the 200m final), she will arrive at the starting line in perfect physical and mental balance. Just like they did in the 2023 US trial, she knew she had won before the gun propelled her body forward.
“I remember thinking: There’s a lot of pressure in these trials. But sometimes you just know when you’re ready. You just know when you’re going to win. I just knew. So I wasn’t nervous at all. When you’re as That’s the best feeling when an athlete reaches that point. That’s what you train for all year long, to feel ready.
