Of course Jennifer Randall is thrilled that her daughter, Gabby Thomas, will head to Paris later this month to compete in her second Olympic Games. Young Gabby was always faster than her peers; her grade school soccer team strategy was to boot the ball over everyone else’s head and let Gabby chase it down. Randall was the one who told her she could do this, who when Gabby was 11 or 12 proclaimed that she would be an Olympic runner. “She rolled her eyes at me and sashayed out of the room,” Randall says. But a dozen years later, there Thomas was, earning a bronze medal in Tokyo in the 200 meters, and a silver in the 4x100, while Randall watched, delighted. She has her Paris itinerary all planned.
After Paris, Thomas hopes to compete in Los Angeles in 2028, and that's all fine with her mom. Great, even. But then that’s enough of that.
