AAmerican Gabby Thomas, a Harvard graduate who also has a master’s degree in public health, won the 200m sprint on Wednesday night at the Stade de France, the first US track and field athlete to win gold in this event since Allyson Felix in 2012. Thomas won with a time of 21.83 seconds; Juliano Alfredo in Saint Lucia finished second, with a time of 22.08, taking silver, while Brittany Brown, from the USA, won bronze, with a time of 2.20.
The USA continues to dominate track and field competition. Thomas’ victory gives the Americans five golds in the sport: no other country has more than two golds. Cole Hocker added to that achievement with a surprise victory in the 1500m on Tuesday: in what was supposed to be a two-man duel between Josh Kerr of Great Britain and Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, Hocker outclassed them both in the final straight, setting a new Olympic record in the process.
Overall, the United States has accumulated 16 track and field medals so far: Kenya and Jamaica have the second most medals with four each overall.
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Thomas has steadily improved his global standing, winning bronze in the 200m in Tokyo, a silver at last year’s world championships and now gold. Her 200m rival, current world champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, withdrew from the 100m and 200m races in Paris. A hamstring problem bothered Jackson, but this was not confirmed as the reason for Jackson’s withdrawal from the race. Jackson’s absence positioned Thomas as the clear favorite. She did not disappoint the USA.
Thomas’ mother, University of Michigan education professor Jennifer Randall, had to urge Thomas to run when her daughter was younger. Thomas began pursuing athletics his freshman year of high school in Massachusetts; Harvard recruited her to run the 100 m, 200 m and long jump and triple jump. In 2018, Thomas won the NCAA 200 m title.
She moved to Austin after graduation to train for the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the 2021 US Olympic track and field trials, Thomas ran 21.61 seconds: only the legendary Florence Griffith Joyner finished faster.
Thomas had announced his arrival. She followed her 200m bronze in Tokyo with a strong performance in the 4×100 relay, as the US team won gold. Off the track, Douglas completed her master’s degree in 2023 at the University of Texas, where she wrote about racial disparities in sleep epidemiology. “African Americans were more likely to have sleep problems for social and biological reasons,” she said before the Olympics. “This led to them having a shorter life expectancy.”
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When not at the track, Thomas works as director of the hypertension program at Volunteer Healthcare Clinic, which provides medical services to uninsured patients. She manages volunteers and interacts with patients. This fall, Thomas will be attending a women’s-only track and field event sponsored by Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and founder of the 776 venture capital fund. The 776 Invitational, which will be held in New York City, will give a prize first-place prize of US$60,000 to race winners, substantially higher than that offered by major professional track circuits.
Thomas’ work at the Games isn’t done yet, as she still has the relays to go. She could potentially compete in the 4×100 final on Friday and the 4×400 final on Saturday.
But first she will stand on the podium, alone, as 200 m champion.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
