"I didn't feel pressure at all" - Gabby Thomas on her mother valuing effort over outcome

Gabby Thomas talked about how her mother, a PhD scholar, never pressured her to excel in academics, and instead, focused on efforts. Besides making waves in the track and field world, Thomas volunteers in a healthcare clinic in Austin, Texas.

Gabby Thomas' mother, Jennifer Randall completed her PhD at Emory University and moved to Massachusetts to pursue teaching at the University of Massachusetts in 2007. Her family accompanied her and settled in Florence, where Thomas kicked off her athletic pursuits with soccer, softball, and track.

Hailing from a family of scholars, Thomas talked about how she never felt pressure to stand out in the educational field since her mother valued her efforts and never scolded her for bad grades. Talking on Why Not Me? with Mike Jackson, she said:

"I didn't feel pressure at all and that is one of the best things about my mom. It was never about the outcome ever. It was always about the effort, doing my homework, and if I tried and every day after school we would sit down we had to do the homework first and she would check it and we would go about our day."

Thomas added:

"I don't remember her ever punishing me for getting anything wrong or ever punishing me for getting a bad grade on a test and I've had so many bad grades."

Gabby Thomas earned her master's degree in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center in 2023 after graduating with neurobiology and global health from Harvard University.

Thomas competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning bronze in the 200m and silver in the 4x100m relay. Continuing the momentum, she took the 200m silver and gold in the 4x100m relay at the 2023 World Championships.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 27-year-old clinched gold in the 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m relay events.

Gabby Thomas on how her mother impacted her life journey

Gabby Thomas looks on at the 2024 Athlos NYC - (Source: Getty)

Thomas expressed that her mother's journey as a single parent, working day and night, inspired the Olympian to be a better adult and to navigate her career.

"I think watching her as I was growing up and how hard she worked, that's impacted me in ways that I probably can't even recognise. Watching her be a single parent without two pennies to scrub together and working her way up and to being what she is now, a successful professor living out her dreams and starting a non-profit to help people get education," she said to Olympics.com.

Thomas also shared how her mother's work ethic helped her believe in working hard to achieve her goals.

"It really showed me what true work ethic was, and it showed me that you can achieve your dreams through hard work... [through that] and anything is possible."

In an interview with the LA28 project in August 2024, Thomas hilariously noted that her mother 'forced her into track' when her priority was soccer.