U.S. Sprinter Gabby Thomas Drops 'Phony' Admission About Career

In bagging three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, U.S. sprinter Gabby Thomas established herself as a household name among track and field fans across the globe.

After Paris, Thomas now has five Olympic medals to her name. This is after she won gold in the 200 meters, the 4x100 relay and the 4 x 400 relay during the games.

What might come as a shock for some fans is the fact that despite being one of the most successful American track and field stars in the history of the sport, Thomas recently admitted that she had some strong doubts about her career early on.

"A lot of times I do just kind of feel like such a phony being like the only pro track athlete who didn't want to go into track and field whenever I talk about it to people," Thomas said in a recent appearance on the "A Slight Change of Plans" podcast by Maya Shankar (h/t Agnijeeta Majumder of Sportskeeda). "... Quite frankly, I didn't want to run."

The 27-year-old went on to reveal that she considered quitting the sport altogether during her time at Harvard University.

"Running track in college, there were many times where I thought I would quit," she said. "When I went pro, growing pains of joining a professional training group are real, there are a lot of egos, I didn’t think that I was going to be cut out for it."

The track and field world will forever be indebted to Thomas for deciding not to give up running. Otherwise, we all would have been robbed of what turned out to be an iconic career from one of the greatest to ever do it.

Related: U.S. Olympics Icon Sends Message to Gabby Thomas After Historic Performance