Follow live coverage of Day 12 of the 2024 Paris Olympics, with 21 gold medals on offer
SAINT-DENIS, France — Stardom, and its levels, is a wholly intangible phenomenon. It’s unwritten but understood. It’s unofficial yet incredibly significant. It’s a measurement of adoration without a universal metric system.
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But whatever the rubric used, whatever credentials are necessary, whatever contexts and extras factor in, Gabby Thomas is qualified.
Tuesday, she checked the final box to complete her resume. She came off the turn in the women’s 200-meter final looking to obliterate. She ran with the kind of power that comes from having to fight for everything. She made the race of her life look easy. Even her time of 21.83 seconds doesn’t illustrate her dominance.
Thomas had a point to prove, and she did it in prime time at Stade de France. She won gold. Her application for the position of superstar in her sport has been submitted.
“I feel like I am a big name now in track and field,” she said, the American flag draped around her like a blanket. “I feel like I’ve earned my respect — and it took years. But that’s what it takes. I went against some really, really good runners today. And I did it.”
There will be no more overlooking Gabrielle Lisa Thomas. No more denying her belonging with the best of American track.
Thomas is the first American woman to win the 200 in the Olympics since Allyson Felix beat Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2012 in Rio.
This was not a star being born. This was a blossoming. This was a culmination.
Gabby Thomas celebrates by ringing the bell after winning the Women’s 200m. (Photo: Michael Steele / Getty Images)
Thomas has been methodically and consistently growing into an Olympic champion. This moment was prepared for with attention to detail and diligence. If she seems ideal for the role of marquee athlete, it’s because she’s been marinating, slow-cooking to perfection.
She knows who she is and who she wants to be. She knows why she’s here. She knows what she wants to do. She’s put in the work, maximizing her talent.
She’s accumulated experience. She’s grown from a heart-warming story at the Tokyo Olympics to being ranked No. 2 in the world and being the hunted. She’s grown comfortable in the pressure cooker. She’s been patient, waiting for her time, not skipping steps.
GO DEEPERGabby Thomas, Olympic 200-meter favorite, is firmly in the spotlight — and ready for itNow she’s a gold medalist, and not the least bit shy about declaring what should be coming her way.
“I am ready,” she said. “I’ve had years of experience now. I’m a mature athlete. I can handle the pressure. And, I’ve proven myself. I am ready and I am excited about it.”
She’s also not wrong.
Who’s more worthy than Thomas? She has an Olympic gold and an Olympic bronze medal in the 200 meters, plus a silver in the 4×100 meter relay. She has a silver medal from the women’s 200 at the 2023 World Championships, and a gold medal at the same event in the 4×100 relay. That’s five medals.
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Tuesday’s 200-meter final was just the latest example of how she rises to moments. The only thing missing from the spectacle at Stade de France was Jamaican Shericka Jackson, ranked No. 1 in the world in the 200 and owner of the discipline’s fastest times this side of Florence Griffith-Joyner.
Jackson pulled out of her best event, leaving 100-meter champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia as Thomas’ biggest foe.
But she wasn’t in Thomas’ league. Not on this night. And Jackson might not have been either.
“I was confident before that,” Thomas said of Jackson’s withdrawal, “and I was confident going into this race.”
Who’s more inspiring than Thomas? Raised by a single mother who worked her tail off to provide for her children and become a professor, Thomas has work ethic in her DNA.
And working is how you graduate from Harvard with a degree in neurobiology then get a master’s degree from the University of Texas in public health with a concentration on epidemiology. And dominate in track and field. Her day job is volunteering at a health care clinic. Her passion outside of sport is addressing inequities in healthcare.
“I would say she’s the female that needs to be in front of the track world,” said McKenzie Long, the recent Ole Miss graduate — who has four degrees herself — who finished seventh in her first Olympic final. “She’s that type of female that everybody should look up to and want to be like.”
Off the track, Thomas is as marketable as they come, as much as she’s willing to take advantage. With diverse interests and talents, and an impressive background story, she’s an easy endorser. She’s one of the faces of New Balance. She pushes Sephora. She’s the face of Alexis Ohanian’s new women’s track event ATHLOS.
On the track, Thomas is a bully. Alfred felt Thomas on Tuesday.
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She needed to be either well ahead of Thomas on the turn, or pace herself and press a nitro button down the stretch. But either is hard to do against Thomas. She is fast enough to attack the first 100 meters, when the speedsters might want to save some energy, and put pressure on her opponents to keep up. She doesn’t let you conserve.
Then for the final 100 meters, she’s strong enough to have plenty in the tank down the stretch, those long strides swallowing up the track. Alfred, like many others, didn’t have enough to do both. Thomas led out of the turn and the force was apparent.
Thomas’ top-end speed doesn’t rival 100-meter sprinters. But the 200 is about speed and endurance. It’s about how long you can be fast.
“She’s strong,” Alfred said, her soft voice turning up an octave for emphasis. “She’s a very strong athlete mentally and physically.”
It’s usually surprising to people when they come to see Thomas’ toughness. It’s not the first impression she gives. Thomas’ smile, intentionally or not, is a crafty misdirection. Most see a pretty face, a cheery personality, hear about the Harvard connection, and presume she’s not a beast.
The assumption is that she’s not a beast. Thomas loves ruining that perception.
The truth is, Thomas was no prodigy. She didn’t go to some big track school. She ran from Harvard to Tokyo to Paris. She wasn’t expected to be a significant player in this sport. She didn’t come into the game, or rise within it, to much fanfare. Nothing was bequeathed to her sheerly on her promise.
Nah. She took this. She doesn’t have to do this — and at one point said she wanted to quit running professionally. She could be on the marquee of a hospital instead of track event. She could sit on health boards instead of posing for billboards.
But she decided she wanted this. She set her sights on it and grinded for it.
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“This is years in the making,” she said. “People don’t really see what goes on behind the scenes and how hard we work.”
The only thing missing on her resume, the only remotely valid justification for limiting her fame and earnings and platform and reach was that she didn’t have a gold medal. So she made her way to the biggest stage of her life and got one. That’s what superstars do.
Required reading
- Gabby Thomas: The U.S. track star with a bigger goal beyond Olympic medals
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Marcus Thompson II is a lead columnist at The Athletic. He is a prominent voice in the Bay Area sports scene after 18 years with Bay Area News Group, including 10 seasons covering the Warriors and four as a columnist. Marcus is also the author of the best-selling biography "GOLDEN: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry." Follow Marcus on Twitter @thompsonscribe
