On the second Tuesday of the 2024 Olympic Games, American runner Gabrielle “Gabby” Thomas became a maiden gold medal winner with a decisive victory in the women’s 200-meter sprint. She held off St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred—who had won the 100-meter final a few days earlier—and another American, Brittany Brown, who finished third.
To those in Paris’s Stade de France, and to the millions more watching on livestreams, there was a magnetism in Thomas’s stage and screen presence. In her star-affirming dash, she retained a preternatural cool more often associated with red carpets than race tracks.
To use a very online term: Thomas has serious aura.
Born in Atlanta, raised in Northampton, Massachusetts, and now based in Austin, Thomas, 27, had won bronze in the 200-meter three years ago in Tokyo (along with a silver in the 4 x 100-meter relay). She’s collected gold at the world championships, too, but her halcyon turn in Paris is the culmination of years of patience and dedication. That is to say: Thomas has long been a marquee figure in the sport—and she has an impressive resume outside of athletics, too, having earned her master’s degree in public health from Harvard—but she is now global name.
Below, and ahead of the next few days’ relay events, Thomas hops on the phone with Vogue to discuss what was—or wasn’t—going through her head during the race, a bit about her volunteer work in healthcare, and getting a surprise call from Snoop Dogg.
Vogue: Congratulations, Gabby! How are you feeling at this moment, a day after your big win? Has it sunk in?
Gabby Thomas: I think it’s sinking in now. At first, I was completely in shock and disbelief and not really understanding what had happened. But now I’ve had some time to reflect on it, and it really is just such an amazing feeling. I’m just so happy and thankful, and proud of all the time and work that has been put into this. Both on my behalf and the behalf of my community and my team.
Do you remember the very first thing that came into your head after winning?
[Laughs.] What a great question! The first thing that came into my head after winning was: I want to find my friends and family. It was like, OK, I just won, I did it, this is great, but, like, where are they? I want to go celebrate with them.