Gabby Thomas reacts to an old picture with Rai Benjamin from 2019 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix after both win gold medals at Paris Olympics

By Janhavi Shinde

Modified Aug 25, 2024 03:55 GMT

Fresh off her Paris Olympics victories, Gabby Thomas recently reacted to an old picture of her and Rai Benjamin from the 2019 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. The duo clinched multiple gold medals at the Paris Games.

Thomas; three gold medals in the French capital included the women's 200m, 4x100m relay, and 4x400m relay race. She clocked an impressive time of 21.83 seconds to surpass the 100m champion Julien Alfred and her fellow teammate Brittany Brown, who clocked 22.08 and 22.20 seconds, respectively.

Rai Benjamin bagged two gold medals in the men's 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay race. The American hurdler and sprinter defeated Karsten Warholm and Alison Dos in the individual event, clocking a time of 46.46 seconds.

Benjamin's coach Joanna Hayes, the 2004 Athens 100m hurdles champion, shared a picture of him and Thomas from the 2019 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Both athletes are seen posing for the pictures along with their bib numbers.

"Found little throwback of these youngsters @kingben and @gabbythomas from 2019," Hayes wrote.

"#goldmedalist," she added.

As Thomas reshared the picture on her Instagram story, nostalgia took over her and she wrote "Omg" followed with teary-eyed emojis.

Screenshot of Gabby Thomas' Instagram story.

At the 2019 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Thomas dominated the women's 300m lineup by registering a world lead of 35.75 seconds.

"She made that decision for me" - Gabby Thomas reflects on how her mother signed her up for athletics

Gabby Thomas in the Women's 4 x 400m Relay Final during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. (Photo via Getty Images)

Following her glorious feat in Paris, Gabby Thomas revealed how her athletics journey began.

Making an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show, she expressed her gratitude to her mother for forcing her into track and field, over her first love of soccer.

"Mom, I want to thank you so much for forcing me to do track and field. Thank you. You knew what you were doing," Thomas said. "I originally chose softball; I wanted to do it with my friends, you know, track and field was not my first love, soccer was. My friends were doing softball, so I signed up, but, my mother had another idea, and I don't know."

"You know about black households, you don't really get to talk back. She made that decision for me. She said track and field; she signed me up, and I showed up to practice for first day, and never looked back," she added.

Gabby Thomas ran the third legs in the 4x100m and 4x400m relay races for the American team, clocking 10.25 seconds and 49.30 seconds respectively.