Gabby Thomas’ Life Is About Much More Than Olympic Medals

The three gold medals that sprinter Gabby Thomas won at the Paris Olympics last summer are currently resting in what is, she says, their proper place: her sock drawer. She’s stuck her silver and bronze from Tokyo in there too.

Thomas, 28, is in no rush to build any sort of living-room shrine to her athletic accomplishments. “The medals are truly just objects for me,” she says. “I don’t look at them and genuinely feel like, ‘Oh my God, those are so cool.’” One day, she may enjoy staring at all that precious metal, as a reminder of past glories. But now is not that time. “I genuinely feel like I’m not done yet,” says Thomas. “I’m still on my journey. I’m still in that process. I have so many more to come.”

Plus, her life is more than mere medals. When her track career comes to a close, Thomas has designs on leading a nonprofit organization like Austin’s Volunteer Healthcare Clinic, where she has helped manage fellow workers, interacted with patients—many of whom are uninsured and live in underserved Latino communities—and arranged for one of her sponsors, New Balance, to donate shoes. “What I do now only fuels that thought,” says Thomas, who wrote her master’s thesis at the University of Texas about racial disparities in sleep epidemiology, after majoring in neurobiology and global health as a Harvard undergrad. “We see the difference that we make in the community. We are, in fact, bridging that racial health disparity gap, which is really important to me.”

One woman who received new footwear at the clinic last spring was moved to tears and shared with Thomas that she was going through some personal turmoil. “It felt like somebody was looking out for her,” says Thomas. “You feel alone and you’re in a dark place, and something so small can make a big difference.”

After the Paris Olympics, where Thomas won the 200 m and pair of relay golds in the 4×100 and 4×400, she headlined Athlos NYC, a female-only track event backed by Reddit co-founder and venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian. Athlos doled out a record prize purse, including $60,000 for the winner of each of the six sprint and middle-distance races. Thomas finished second in the 200 m. Megan Thee Stallion provided the post-race entertainment. “It was a great cultural moment for us,” says Thomas. “Because when you actually look at who’s running track and field, most of us are Black women. And we had an event that really celebrated that.”

Over these past few months, Thomas has also appeared on the cover of Vogue, snapped a picture with Rihanna at an awards show, attended Fashion Week, and served as grand marshal of the New York City Marathon. Now she’s training for the upcoming season, which includes the debut of Grand Slam Track, a new league founded by legendary sprinter Michael Johnson, likely another Athlos event, and world championships, where she’ll aim to win her first individual gold. These commitments have forced her to step away from her management role at the clinic, although she still regularly checks in on patients.

Going into the next Olympic cycle, Thomas has started strong off the blocks. “The gold medals, while they do add pressure, have given me a lot of confidence, have truly showed me what I’m capable of,” says Thomas. “So I’m definitely looking forward to the next couple of years. The fact that LA 2028 is in America, in my home country, I just don’t think it could be wrapped more beautifully for me.”