"My mom grew up dirt poor"- Gabby Thomas opens up being inspired to work hard by her mother's struggles

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Nov 04, 2024 05:36 GMT

Olympic champion Gabby Thomas has been grateful to her mother for inspiring her to become a champion athlete. The 27-year-old recently talked about how her mother's struggles inspired her to work hard.

Thomas attended the podcast 'Why Not Me? with Mike Jackson' where she talked about her childhood, her journey to the Paris Olympics, as well as her personal life.

When asked about how her mother inspired her to succeed against all odds, Thomas replied,

"My mom is a rockstar. In that moment it is hard, but my mom grew up dirt poor in Mobile, Alabama. I mean Jennifer, eight siblings, nine, um they didn't have much, struggled to keep the lights on. There was a lot going on, so for her to go get a scholarship at Duke was already incredible in itself, um you know, hit with a little bit of hardship."

Thomas also mentioned that it wasn't an easy task for her mother to raise the kids.

"Not that my brother and I are hardship, but you know twins. A hurdle in life's journey, um, and just kind of working her way out of this, and this is something I talk about a lot about my own journey is watching my mom go from waitressing, working at a daycare going back to school, she continued school at Emory, um, and got her PHD in education," added the Olympic champion.

Gabby Thomas' mother Jennifer Randall has done her PhD in educational measurement from Emory University. She had done her graduation in Psychology from Duke University in 1996. Randall later completed her Master's in teaching at Duke.

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Gabby Thomas thanks her mother for forcing her onto the track

Gabby Thomas of the USA in action during the women's 200m finals at the Paris Olympics 2024 [Image Source : Getty]

Weeks after the Paris Olympics, Gabby Thomas appeared on the popular talk show 'The Jimmy Kimmel Live'. She talked about her childhood, and how it was her mother, who pushed her on the track.

Thomas thanked her mother for forcing her onto the track and field, which wasn't her first choice.

"Mom, I want to thank you so much for forcing me to do track and field. Thank you. You knew what you were doing. 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," said Thomas.

"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," added Thomas.

Thomas' mother was also present in the audience gallery, and cheekily replied,

"You're welcome, baby. Always listen to your mother."

Gabby Thomas won three historic gold medals at the Paris Olympics. She edged out 100m champion, Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia to win the gold medal in women's 200m.

Thomas also contributed to the gold medals of Team USA in the women's 4x100m relay and the women's 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympics. Before that, she had a silver medal in the women's 4x100m relay and a bronze medal in the 200m event from the Tokyo Olympics to her credit.