Sprinter Gabby 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 ever gold medal in the women’s 200-meter event.
Thomas dominated the race. She posted a time of 21.83 seconds and topping 100-meter champion Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, by 0.25 seconds.
She would add two more gold medals at the games as part of the American team in the 4 × 100-meter relay and 4 × 400-meter relay.
On Tuesday, Thomas spoke to Desi Lydic in an interview on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
Thomas revealed her secret weapons. First, the inspiration she draws from her mother. Second, the pre-race routine she uses to propel herself to gold medal success.
Gabby Thomas’s Mother Predicted Her Daughter Was Going To Shine
Gabby Thomas spoke to Lydic about her big wins for Team USA, her mom’s lifelong encouragement, and how her Harvard degree in neurobiology informed her athletic preparation and self-care.
Turns out her mom, Jennifer Randall, saw her daughter shining like gold from a very early age.
“Oh, my goodness. I can go on and on about my mom and her support,” Thomas conveyed as she and the host watched video of Randall’s reaction to her daughter’s Olympic dream coming true.
“And she’s always instilled in me the importance of not only education but going after your dreams and giving back to your community. So she was the best role model that I could have ever imagined having.”
Part of what Randall instilled in her daughter was how she was going to succeed in life, even telling her at the age of 9 or 10: “I had a light in me, and that I was going to shine very brightly, and that it was my purpose to do so and give it back to the world.”
She added, “And I will never forget that conversation.”
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The Secret To Her Success
What an incredible heart-warming message from her mother.
Lydic wanted to know about the training involved in preparing for such a high-profile event as the Olympics. And, Gabby Thomas revealed, while the physical components of such training are a given, the mental aspects are also important.
“A lot of people don’t realize that our sport, half of it is mental,” she explained. “You can prepare physically every day and be so physically prepared, but if you’re mentally not there, you just– you’re not going to be great.”
Leading up to big races involves some mental training as well.
“That was a lot of pressure to take on,” she said of this Olympic performance. “But I was as prepared as I could have been.”
“I do a lot of meditation exercises, I did my visualizations of the race, I did all of my positive self-talk,” Thomas continued. “And I just have a healthy relationship with myself and the sport.”
That healthy relationship led to her becoming a three-time Olympic gold medalist. A good Mom and meditation helped quite a bit too.
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