Gabby Thomas lashes out at Riley Gaines for her comments on Caitlin Clark amid the basketball player's major honor

Olympic champion Gabby Thomas recently reacted to NCAA swimmer-turned-social activist Riley Gaines' comments over WNBA star Caitlin Clark. Clark had made comments on white privilege which didn't go down well with Gaines.

The WNBA player was recently awarded with the 'Athlete of the Year' award by the Time Magazine and she talked about the white privilege in an interview with the publication.

"I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege. A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them," Clark said

Gaines responded by commenting on her X handle, [previously Twitter],

"No one was asking for Caitlin Clark to position herself as a right-wing hero. All she needed to do was remain neutral."

However, it seems that Thomas wasn't impressed with Gaines' viewpoint. The 27-year-old sprinter shared Gaines' post on her X handle as she wrote,

"Girl are you fr??? You don’t have to share your opinion on everything, just sit this one out."

Gabby Thomas is currently preparing for the upcoming athletic season of 2025. She has also signed up for Michael Johnson's much awaited 'Grand Slam Track' League, whose first meet shall be held in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 2025 onwards.

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Gabby Thomas on balancing neurobiology with career in athletics

Gabby Thomas on balancing neurobiology with athletics' career [Image Source : Getty Images]

While Gabby Thomas is well known for her athletic prowess, not many know that she is equally adept in the field of medicine. The 27-year-old sprinter had graduated from the Harvard University with a specialization in neurobiology.

In an interview with the Harvard Varsity Club in February 2022, Thomas had revealed as to how she balanced her athletics' career with her love for healthcare. In her words,

“But it was balancing all those things and I I felt like I almost became resentful a little bit at times just because I felt like I wasn't able to commit fully to both of those things that I wanted to do and two things that I was really passionate about and it became this source of tension for me. Do I need to decide between doing neurobiology for full time or do I need to like pursue thing track thing full time?" [11:44 onwards]

Thomas further added,

“And I think it was after my sophomore year, when I finally realized that I didn't have to choose one or the other. And as long as I was enjoying what I was doing, then I can have both,” she added.

Gabby Thomas had a great athletic season in 2024, as she won three gold medals in women's 200m, women's 4x100m relay, and the women's 4x400m relay event at the Paris Olympics. Thomas ended the season on a decent note, as she finished second at the inaugural edition of the female-only Athlos NYC meet.