Gabby Thomas: Gold Medalist by Day, Health Clinic Volunteer by Night
Gabby Thomas, who just won the gold in the women's 200-meter final at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, has been volunteering her nights at a health clinic for Americans without insurance.
Photo: Getty Images Olympics Paris Olympics
This week, at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Gabby Thomas took the lead (and ultimately, the gold) in the women’s 200-meter final—a fête made all the more impressive given this whole running with superhuman speed thing isn’t even her only job.
On Tuesday, after Thomas—who won a bronze and silver in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games—sprinted her way to becoming a first-time gold medalist, scores of outlets zeroed in on the fact that not only is the 27-year-old a graduate of both Harvard and the University of Texas Health Science Center, but that training for the Games was only her day job. In the last several months leading up to the Olympics, Thomas devoted her nights to volunteering at an Austin health care clinic for the countless Americans subsisting without insurance. That is, in addition to training three to six hours every day.
Why take on more responsibility—especially unpaid—when she has every possible excuse to just rest? Because Thomas reportedly hopes to run a hospital or nonprofit that democratizes access to health care one day. Is she…Ms. America? Nope, just one of millions in this country who have multiple occupations. Of course, because Thomas is far more graceful than I am, she recently told Olympics.com that she’s quite happy to do both.
“I think I’m just so grateful to get to do what I love,” Thomas said. “I think about it all the time, and even after a hard day at the track, when I’m tired and wheezing from practice, I’m just like, ‘I’m so grateful to be doing what I love and to be able to do it for a living.’”
“And then I get to go to the clinic and volunteer and make a difference in people’s lives,” she added. “So I feel so fulfilled, and I feel so passionate about everything I do. And [that all] really just comes from gratitude.”
Thomas began pursuing health care at Harvard University, where she earned a degree in neurobiology. She told Olympics.com that it was after taking a class that examined the innumerable disparities in the American health care system and their effect on people of color that she pursued a master’s degree in public health. This, of course, was all happening at the same time she was setting multiple records, earning major brand deals, and working tirelessly to become a gold medalist before the age of 30.
She’s not alone either. Scores of American Olympians tout more than one degree and have financed their training with other occupations—from contractor to birthday party clown. America: where even our Olympians have multiple occupations and/or several side hustles, etc., etc.
“I hope that I’m doing the same thing I’m doing now, which is letting my passions drive me,” Thomas recently told NBC News of her plans for the future. Gabby, if you’re reading this, I personally hope you’ve scheduled an extended vacation somewhere between outrunning—and saving—the world.