“This was the meet where I discovered true fear” - Gabby Thomas names the event where she first encountered competition fear

American sprinter Gabby Thomas recently named the event where she encountered competition fear for the first time.

The two-time Olympic medalist began her 2024 season on a positive note at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 2024 on Sunday, February 4. At the third World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event, Thomas claimed the women’s 300m title, clocking a time of 35.75s in front of the home crowd.

For the 2024 season, Thomas has set her eyes on winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024 and is leaving no stone unturned. In a recent interview with a Jamaican journalist, the American athlete stated that she neither went on vacation nor attended a lot of parties during the 2023 off-season as she was taking as much rest as possible for the Olympic year ahead.

In her latest Instagram (IG) story, Thomas shared a post from one of her closest friends from her Harvard days, Ngozi Musa. There, Thomas mentioned the meet -'Regionals freshman year, first leg on the 4X4' - where she discovered fear and captioned it with laughing and skull emojis:

“Aww omg this was the meet where I discovered true fear😂😂💀 Regionals freshman year, first leg on the 4X4”

Enter caption

This story highlighted that she experienced competition fear while being a part of the 4 X 400m relay team as she ran the first leg in the event during her freshman year at the Regionals.

On the occasion of National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD), Musa took to her Instagram to celebrate the day and wished everyone, stating:

“grateful today and every day for the women that came before me & paved the way, the women that have run & competed alongside me, and the bright future & opportunities ahead that are being created for girls and women in sport.”

“sport raised me, made me who I am today & continues to be the thread that binds me to so many amazing & accomplished women in my life !!!” Musa added.

Ngozi Musa, also an athlete, was teammates with Gabby Thomas and both of them broke multiple Harvard and Ivy League records in the 60m, 100m, 200m, 300m, and relay events like 4 x 100m, 4 x 200m, and 4 x 400m relays.

Gabby Thomas talks about doing volunteer work at a healthcare clinic

Gabby Thomas competes in the Women's 200m heats during the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Gabby Thomas recently opened up about being a part of a healthcare clinic where she does volunteering work and dedicates about 10 hours a week.

Speaking in an interview (via letsrundotcom's YouTube channel), the University of Texas Health Science Center graduate, who did her masters in public health, stated:

“Volunteer work is really important to me. It's really important to give back to the communities I live in, and that I occupy, Austin being the main one since I live and train there.”

“So, I work at a healthcare clinic that provides healthcare resources and services to people who don't have health insurance, and I think that’s huge," Thomas added.

At the clinic, Gabby Thomas is assigned the role of managing the cases of a set of patients, making sure they receive their appointments, needs, and medications, and ensuring that their lifestyle is in good shape.