PARIS — Gabby Thomas had run the Olympic 200-meter final in her head countless times before she got into the blocks Tuesday night at the Stade de France.
The 27-year-old Atlanta native practices visualization before every meet. “And that’s how I win races,” she said.
Just as Thomas envisioned — and as her coach, Tonja Buford-Bailey directed — she went out hard and finished strong to capture the biggest race of her life with a time of 21.83 seconds.
“But I did not expect to feel how I felt when I crossed that line,” Thomas said.
She clutched the back of her head in her hands and cried out in joy.
“You prepare for this moment, and you train so hard for this moment, but when it actually comes, it’s indescribable and I couldn’t believe it,” Thomas said. “I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would become an Olympic gold medalist — and I am one, and I’m still kind of wrapping my head around that.”
Thomas is the first American woman to win the 200 at the Olympic Games since Allyson Felix in 2012 and the third from the Atlanta metro area to capture the gold in the event. Edith McGuire was the Olympic champion in 1964 and Gwen Torrence topped the podium in 1992.
“This is six years in the making, at least, and all of it was for this moment,” Thomas said.
In the call room, she kept her heart rate up by doing 10 burpees. “I told my coach I didn’t want to do it because it’s embarrassing, but she said I had to,” Thomas said.
Once the gun went off, Thomas roared around the curve in Lane 7, making up the stagger on Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia in Lane 8. Thomas took the lead with 100 meters to go and continued to pull away, not realizing she was all by herself until she crossed the finish line. She had never looked around.
“As far as I was concerned, I was the only one in that race,” said Thomas, who credited dedication and discipline for giving her that tunnel vision. “I don’t even know what time I ran.”
Rather than looking at the scoreboard, Thomas was busy celebrating with the Stars and Stripes draped over her shoulders.
Her time was .03 better than her semifinal result and gives her four of the five fastest times this year, with her best 21.78 at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
“I feel so calm and in control of my race and my race plan,” Thomas said. “And I don’t panic when I run any more. I know that I have it, and that’s what I felt like I did today.”
Alfred, the newly-minted 100-meter champion, was a distant second with a time of 22.08 seconds. In a photo finish, American Brittany Brown took the bronze in 22.20, edging Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (22.22) and Daryll Neita (22.33). McKenzie Long of the United States, who placed seventh in 22.42, ran 21.83 to win the NCAA championship in June.
Alfred, who was hoping to pull off the 100/200 double, just as Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah did in 2016 and 2021, nevertheless doubled her country’s all-time medal count.
The Saint Lucian superstar, who was an NCAA champion for Texas, said she was mentally and physically tired from a full schedule of racing. “Had I had fresh legs as well,” Alfred said, she would have executed better. “It’s no excuse, but I’m human and seeing how taxing six races can be.”
Thomas, a seasoned competitor in the 100 and 400, said she expects to be selected for the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays later this week, so she could triple her medal haul.
She competed in college for Harvard, a trajectory she admits is unusual for a top sprinter. Thomas won two medals at the Tokyo Olympics, a bronze in the 200 and a silver in the 4 x 100 meter relay, then earned the silver at the 2023 World Championships behind Shericka Jackson. The Jamaican ran a blistering 21.41, but there would be no rematch at the Olympics.
Jackson withdrew at the last moment due to an injury.
“She’s an incredible competitor, but I’m not really afraid to race anybody,” Thomas said. “I would have liked to have raced her, and I wish her the best.”
No matter what happens in the future, Thomas will always have Paris.
“It was,” she said, “the happiest moment of my life.”
