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Gabby Thomas dubbed 'beauty with brains' after Harvard grad bags bronze in women’s 200 meters

Gabby Thomas secured a podium finish with a time of 21.87 seconds, just behind Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah and Christine Mboma of Namibia

American sprinter Gabrielle Thomas just scored her biggest international victory with a bronze medal from the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 200 meters event. Fans took to social media to congratulate the Harvard graduate on her success.

Thomas competed against the fastest women alive in the women’s 200m final and secured a podium finish with a time of 21.87 seconds, finishing just behind Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah and Christine Mboma of Namibia. Thompson Herah posted a national record time of 21.53 as she won her second gold medal of the Tokyo Games after sweeping the 100m with an Olympic record of 10.61 on Saturday, July 31. Mboma secured silver with a time of 21.81 seconds. 

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Fans inundated social media with messages congratulating the American track star. "And another of my personal favorites wins a medal at 200m W, Gabrielle Thomas!!! Who said you can't have beauty and brains? Well, Gabby has also an insane running talent. QUEEN, another one today. #Olympics," one tweet said.

"Podium a better place for having Gabrielle Thomas on it. Stone fox," another Twitter user wrote. "The excellence of these female Olympians continues to blow my mind. The commentator just casually announced that Gabrielle Thomas who just won Bronze in the 200m also happens to have a degree in neurobiology from Harvard like nbd. #Tokyo2020," a third added.

"I enjoy watching Gabrielle Thomas run. She makes it look so effortless," a comment read. "Petition for Gabrielle Thomas to actually play Wonder Woman. I'm sure she'll do a better job than the current one," another chimed in.

Thomas turned heads at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials in June when she ran the 200-m race in a stunning 21.61 seconds, the third-fastest 200-m sprint of all time. It made her the second-fastest woman in the history of the race, with the only woman to have run faster than her being the legendary Florence Griffith-Joyner, who set the 200-m world record back in 1988.

Aside from her Harvard University and Olympics credentials, Thomas is also pursuing a master’s in epidemiology and health care management at the University of Texas at Austin, driven by a passion to "reduce racial health care disparities and outcomes," Time reported. 

After the Olympic trials, Thomas suggested that she thrived on balancing it all despite having what many would call an overwhelming schedule. “Being in school really makes me appreciate what I’m doing on the track,” she said.

Thomas was surprised by her performance at the Olympic Trials. “I am still in shock. I cannot believe I put up that time. I just want more for myself now,” she told The Washington Post. “My dream was to make the Olympic team, not to win Olympic trials, not even to break the meet record. Now that I’ve accomplished those, I’m going to set higher goals.” After having secured a podium finish this year, the star sprinter will now set her eyes on Olympic gold.