Ain’t nothing like a gold medal in the Olympic Games. And there ain’t nothing like being draped in Old Glory right after winning that gold medal.
American sprinter Gabby Thomas agrees.
Thomas etched her name in the annals of Olympic history with her remarkable performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The 26-year-old sprinter secured her first gold medal in the women’s 200 meters on Tuesday.
She dominated the race, posting a time of 21.83 seconds and adding to the bronze medal she won in the same event at the Tokyo Games.
Thomas bested 100-meter champion Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, who was 0.25 seconds off the pace in 22.08. Brittany Brown took home the bronze.
But it was after the race that Gabby Thomas really shined.
Graduates from Harvard at 22. MA in Epidemiology. Volunteers at a health clinic for the uninsured in Austin. Wins a gold medal 🥇 at the #Olympics in the 200m.
— Luis Miguel Echegaray (@lmechegaray) August 6, 2024
Gabby Thomas. You’re incredible. pic.twitter.com/efTLOqy3KQ
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Gabby Thomas: Nothing Like Getting The American Flag
The elation Gabby Thomas must have felt after crossing the finish line and realizing she’d won the gold medal was written all over her face with that incredible reaction.
If smiles were an Olympic competition, Thomas would be on the top of the podium.
In an interview with Vogue, she said it was the American flag that kind of snapped her back to reality.
“I was so focused and tunnel-visioned on what I was doing, I blocked out everything else. And just coming back into reality, seeing the photographers everywhere, getting the flag—yes, it was disorienting!” she said.
She expanded on that feeling in an interview with 11 Alive.
“Nothing like getting that flag after you’ve crossed the line, you see the coach right there with it and like everyone’s going crazy, and America is watching, and it’s just such an amazing moment,” Thomas said.
For the first time at the Olympic Games, the U.S. national anthem plays for Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas. 🇺🇸🥇
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
📺 #ParisOlympics on NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/iA8wRa1i3e
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Ringing The Olympic Bell In Red, White, And Blue
Following the race, Ganny Thomas even went over to the Olympic Bell and rang it while still being wrapped in the stars and stripes.
What a moment.
“It was incredible, it was so much fun, and it really just drove it home that I have an Olympic gold right now,” she told reporters of the experience of ringing the bell.
Thomas will also take part in the women’s 4x100m relay at the 2024 Olympics. The team won silver in this race back in 2020.
The finals for that race are on Friday. But Thomas indicated she was going to soak up her gold medal moment for a bit first, saying she is going to “let myself enjoy this moment.”
More about:Athletics
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