"I was just hoping I wouldn’t need a subscription to watch"- Gabby Thomas' hilarious take on lack of free streaming for USATF Championships
Olympic medalist Gabby Thomas recently took a dig at the paid subscription models of streaming platforms to watch the latest edition of the USATF Championships.
Thomas rose to fame at the Tokyo Olympics, as she won the bronze medal in the 200m and a silver medal as part of the 4x100m relay team. Since then, she has improved her performance immensely. The 27-year-old clinched the silver medal in the 200m at the World Athletics Champions in 2023, held in Budapest.
Ever since the rights of major sporting events have gone to streaming platforms, there has been a controversy about whether viewing these events should be kept behind a paywall. A few streaming platforms offer subscription models for some of the events that they stream, whereas others have payment models for every major tournament.
Gabby Thomas recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to ask her followers where would she be able to watch the USATF Indoor Championships.
"How can I watch the USATF indoor championships today? does anybody know where to stream it?" she wrote.
Fans quickly started suggesting to her the platform where the games were being streamed. However, she took to Twitter once again to clarify that she was hoping to watch the event without a subscription.
"Y’all I was just hoping I wouldn’t need a subscription to watch today, but looks like I do.Tomorrow should be normal programming on NBC/peacock lol," she tweeted.
A few fans agreed with her perspective and tweeted the following:
"Terrible for track fans," tweeted a fan.
A user suggested that track and field athletes of Team USA should get a free subscription pass.
"Seems like Team USA athletes should get a free subscription (ignoring how dumb it is to put this behind a paid subscription at all). I get free NBA league pass just from being a season ticket holder," the fan wrote.
Gabby Thomas' career as a college athlete
Gabby Thomas was inspired by former American Olympic medalist Allyson Felix. As a high school student, she was conferred as the MVP every year for creating multiple records for four years.
Thomas studied neurobiology and global health and was a student-athlete at Harvard University. She participated in the 100m and 200m as part of the college team.
As a college athlete, she won a total of 22 conference titles across six events over three years. She set the Ivy League record for the 100m, 200m, and 60m indoor sprint events, earning her a sponsorship contract with New Balance.
Gabby Thamos turned into a professional athlete in October 2018, letting go of her eligibility as a college athlete in the fourth year of her undergraduate degree.