Track & Field Star Gabby Thomas Says Having a Social Media Presence “Helped Push Our Sport’s Visibility Forward” (Exclusive)

Gabby Thomas is going for gold, and plans to bring her hundreds of thousands of followers along for the exciting ride.

The American sprinter made headlines after clocking the fastest 200M time since Florence Griffith Joyner set the world record in 1988 during the U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials in 2021. Now, three years later, with a bronze medal from the 200M Final and a silver from the 4x100M relay with her teammates already in her collection, the 27-year-old is “a completely different athlete” heading into the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

“I just feel confident and mature. I’ve grown so much [since Tokyo]… I’m a completely different athlete,” Thomas tells reporters in a media session during the Team USA Media Summit in New York back in April.

“I feel like I know what I’m doing and I know what I’m expecting from myself, and I think that’s really important. Instead of just being happy to be there, I want to run for a gold medal. The bronze just was like an, ‘oh my gosh, I’m so happy to get bronze.’ This year, it’ll be a bit more different,” she continues.

 

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Competing in the Olympics brings a lot of pressure on athletes both physically and mentally, as you’re not only in a foreign country with different climate conditions, but also performing for your nation on a global scale. It also doesn’t help that the stakes are beyond high for someone like Gabby due to her incredible talent, but at the end of the day, she says that while her Olympic journey is a “personal” one, she thinks about the impact she’s making on the younger generation every time she steps out on the track.

“I don’t really think too much about it like that because I don’t think anything’s actually at stake for me, right?,” she reveals. “I do owe it to anyone who supports me, like my sponsor, my friends, my family and my coach… to, you know, do my best and medal. But this is a personal journey.”

“Everything I do is just because I love it. I want to be the best version of myself, the best athlete that I can be. I also want to be a good example for the younger generation who’s watching me. I think about that every time I step on the track and every time I go in the public eye. I think about that and what positive impact I’m making, so that’s what’s at stake. If I go out and perform the way that I do, and I do my best and present myself in that way, then I think I’ve done what I needed to do,” she continues.

 

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However, in 2024, it’s not just about what you do and how you carry yourself within your sport. With social media playing a dominant role in today’s current events, the Harvard grad says having a presence on digital platforms like Instagram and TikTok is also part of her job as an athlete, which has its pros and cons.

“Half of your job as an athlete is to be an athlete… the other half is to be a social media influencer. The landscape has just shifted so much,” Gabby says.

Experiencing social media and its impact for the first time during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Austin, Texas resident says she, along with other athletes in the Olympic village, were dealing with it in a “very legitimate way.”

“Our mental health was suffering. A lot of us had to log off,” she reveals.

But at the end of the day, Gabby says being on social media is beyond helpful when it comes to raising awareness on gender inequality in sports, as she believes its a huge part of why there’s so much visibility and progression in women’s disciplines.

“We have such amazing female social media personalities who are athletes and people are interested. I think that has really helped push our sport’s our visibility forward, so I love to see that going. But at the same time, I understand that social media can be a very toxic place. It’s not real. People communicate with you as though you’re not real, so, it’s hard,” Thomas explains.

“I definitely try to limit [my time online]. I post and I don’t consume too much, so that’s how I deal with it. A lot of my teammates will delete their Instagram for like once at a time, and that’s tough because then you’re not online, you’re not able to get as much of your brand as you want to,” she continues.

“It’s kind of this push and pull situation we’re really still learning how to navigate, but the future of sports is definitely deeply tied to social media,” she concludes.

 

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With all politics aside, Gabby tells Celeb Secrets that she loves receiving lots of positive messages from her fans, including the ones from parents about how she inspires their children every day.

“You get those messages all the time — especially from parents — which I love,” Gabby shares with us. “They tell me how we’ve inspired their kids and how they want to do what we’re doing. I think that’s really cool.”

You can watch Gabby compete during the Women’s 200M race and the relay beginning tomorrow, August 4th @ 5AM ET on Peacock — and don’t forget to give her a follow on Instagram at @gabbythomas to see her best behind-the-scenes moments from the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

For more coverage from the 2024 Paris Olympics, click here.