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American sprinter Gabby Thomas is coming home from the 2024 Paris Olympics as the most decorated member of Team USA Track & Field—she won gold in the women’s 200-meter, as well as the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays.
That makes her only the fifth woman in track and field to win three gold medals in the same Olympics, and the first to do it since Allyson Felix in 2012.
“There really are no words to describe how grateful I am for this moment,” Thomas said when she sat down with Well+Good in Paris. “I have looked up to Allyson since I was a young girl, and to be likened to her and to be following in her footsteps is a dream.”
But for the 27-year-old—who took home bronze and silver during her Olympic debut in Tokyo—life isn’t all about chasing medals. Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Harvard University and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center. Outside of her far more public work on the track, she is dedicated to her work at an Austin, Texas, volunteer health care clinic for people without insurance.
While some may see that as a distraction from her work on the track, Thomas sees it as a superpower.
“I think it’s really healthy to have a balance,” she says. “When I signed with New Balance initially, that’s just what I was doing. I was in school and pursuing my dreams off the track, and kind of doing things my own way. I was working hard on the track and growing, but I was focused on growing holistically as a whole person.”
Clearly, her intentionally balanced approach is paying off, which comes as no surprise to Thomas.
“When you’re growing that discipline and that commitment to working hard, it’ll show up in every part of your life,” she says. “Being happy is sustainable. It just really makes me love waking up every day, working hard, and getting after it.”
The spotlight will inevitably stay bright on Thomas, who has said she plans to train for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Here are a few ways she manages to stay grounded and focused on the bigger picture despite the fame and attention.
1. She has her morning routine nailed down
Thomas’ days are busy between practice, recovery, and working with her patients. While she says her days are incredibly fulfilling, it’s the little things that help her feel calm and excited rather than stressed out and overwhelmed.
She starts each day with her go-to morning routine: “Waking up, getting coffee, and taking my puppy for a walk,” Thomas says. (Her puppy is an adorable pug named Rico, btw.) “I look forward to waking up and doing that—it’s those small things I love to do.”
“Being happy is sustainable. It just really makes me love waking up every day, working hard, and getting after it.” —Gabby Thomas
2. She goes back to her roots
When she’s not traveling and competing, Thomas also loves being outside in her hometown of Austin. “We live right on some water on the trail, and it’s great,” she says. “It’s a very ‘normal’ life.”
She also loves going out to eat. “Austin has a great food scene,” she says. Her favorite spots? “Clark’s is really good. I love Hank’s. Oh, Flo’s Wine Bar. That’s, that’s my favorite spot, actually. But for the pizza—it has amazing pizza.”
But that doesn’t mean her kitchen is collecting dust. Thomas says her air fryer gets plenty of use. “My boyfriend got me into cooking, which has been really good and healthy for me, because it’s so easy to get back from practice and just order food,” Thomas says. Right now, they’re really into cooking salmon bowls. (“He also loves to cook steak,” she says.)
3. She expresses herself when she competes
Everything about Thomas is golden, including her jewelry. “A fun part of track and field is that we get to show our personality a little bit when we compete,” she says. “We get to wear jewelry, and do our hair how we want, do our makeup. I just do a little bit because it’s kind of my personality. So I have my Omega watch, and just some permanent jewelry. And I have my Oura ring, which honestly is not even charged right now, so it’s just for the vibes.”
4. She focuses on recovery
If there’s one aspect of her life where Thomas is less chill, it’s her recovery routine. “Recovery is so big for me,” she says. “Sleep is number one. I get at least nine hours of sleep every night, and I don’t play about it.” She nails all the stuff that any of us can do, like eating healthy and making sure she’s recovering mentally.
But she also takes things, well, up a notch. Thomas loves using a hyperbaric chamber, a treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized environment with the goal of speeding up the recovery process. “I bought [a hyperbaric chamber] for one of my rooms,” she says. “You can do it for as long as you want, but the best is if you can do it for one-hour sessions, three to four times a week. That’s kind of sustainable and realistic.”
Thomas also has a NanoJet bubble machine, which she says shares the same scientific properties as a hyperbaric chamber. “You put it in a bathtub, and the bubbles are so tiny, and there’s so many of them, and it’s just pure oxygen. It’s newer, and there isn’t a ton of research on it, honestly. But I’m just so into this recovery stuff that I’m willing to try anything.”
5. She pays it forward
While her work at the clinic had to take a bit of a hiatus for the Olympics, Thomas says she’ll get right back to it when she’s back to Austin.
“With this program, I just want to help it grow so that we can have as many resources as possible to help the patients and give them whatever they need,” she says. “Not just in terms of medications and making appointments, but for example, New Balance was able to donate a lot of shoes—so they all got to come and pick up free running shoes. And that was incredible. It meant a lot to a lot of them, because that’s a big part of it; it really motivates you and inspires you to just go outside, be active, and exercise.”
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