Team USA’s 200m star Gabby Thomas is firmly in the Olympic spotlight – and she’s ready for it

EUGENE, Ore. — After the women’s 200-meter final was over and she secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, McKenzie Long said she heard the craziest thing from Gabby Thomas.

“She said she dreamed about me,” said a beaming Long, as she held a bouquet of white and purple flowers and hung a bronze medal around her neck. “She said, ‘Yes, I had a dream that you would become an Olympian.'” I said, ‘You didn’t want to tell me this before we got on this line here.’

Thomas said she didn’t want to ruin the dream, so she kept it to herself until after the race. But Long – ahead of perhaps the biggest race of her life, in her best event, with a chance to make it to Paris – could have used the relief from anxiety.

That proclamation from Thomas, Long suggested, might have worked wonders before the race. Because an idol’s faith does wonders for confidence.

“I literally tell her all the time, ‘I want to be you.’ She is inspiring,” Long said. “That’s my goal. I want to be like Gabby Thomas.”

It takes some time for Thomas to get used to this new skin she is in. The ones with expectations. The one with experience. The one on the marquee.

Sometimes, she said, she wishes she could return to the previous normalcy, when it was all about running and the simple camaraderie of the sport. However, those days are over.

“Great athletes are under pressure, and I just understand that. And so, if I want to be a great athlete, if I want to be among the names of Sanya (Richards-Ross), Allyson (Felix)… you just have to compete under pressure and accept that that’s part of it.”

Thomas, 27, embraces this escalating pedestal she stands on. The final of the 200 meters on Saturday was the confirmation of her elite status.

She smoked all the newcomers in 21.81 seconds, including Sha’Carri Richardson. And that is two-tenths of a second slower than her best time. In one of the most glorified sprint events, Thomas is America’s most important figure.

So she is ready for stardom. Face-of-franchise material is reaching its peak. She has already won two Olympic medals: bronze in the 200 and silver in the 4×100 relay in Tokyo. Last year she won silver in the 200 and relay gold at the world championships. A gold in the 200 in Paris, with the likely chance of another gold in the relay, would take her into another stratosphere of the nation’s consciousness.

Thomas has the total package. She has a look that people love. She is salable. She has the kind of depth that makes her platform purposeful. She has seniority and respect.

That’s why college superstars like Long shape their dreams in her likeness.

“It’s actually very humbling,” Thomas said. “I remember feeling that way about other athletes I saw. During my last Olympic trials, I felt this way about Allyson Felix. I also had that feeling with Jenna Prandini, who I am still competing against. … So to have a younger athlete look at me and say that just feels so surreal. But it makes me happy. It really feels like it gives me purpose.”

Most importantly, Thomas is excellent.

The 6-foot-2 native of Atlanta, by way of Florence, Massachusetts, is a refined elegance on the court. The efficiency of her form and the grace of her stride can give the feeling that she is not running very fast. Speed ​​doesn’t look as labored when Thomas runs, but no less explosive.

Now she has experience on her side. She feels the benefits.

“Actually, yes, and I’m so grateful for that,” Thomas said. “Because there is a lot more pressure when you already have medals, when people know your name. But there’s also comfort in knowing, “Okay, I’ve done this before.” I just feel that maturity. I feel like, ‘Okay, I’m going to go out there and execute and I’m not going to let the nerves get to me.’ And that’s a feeling you just can’t explain, but it’s so comforting to know.

Lang knew what was going on. The Ole Miss sensation liked her chances when she saw the job assignments. Not only because Lane 7 is a good combination of a looser curve and vision of the field. But because Thomas was in lane 8.

“I wanted to stay on Gabby’s hip,” Long said. “I knew once I did that, I would position myself the way I wanted to.”

Long rode Thomas to a time of 21.91 seconds to finish third, just behind Brittany Brown’s 21.90. Richardson – the US 100m champion, who looked dominant in the 200m prior to the final – finished fourth at 10.16pm. Although her bid for the 100/200 double ended, Richardson will still be one of the big draws in the United States when she makes her debut in Paris, alongside the ever-popular Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

They are accompanied by Thomas.

But this star was not born, not in the traditional sense of when its brightness arose. This star is forged and cultivated.

An important part of this evolution, which brings her to this point, is that Thomas wants it.

She didn’t always do that. Track was about the love of running and personal growth. She loved what competition brought her, the development and improvement. As she improved and became important in the sport, the attention was just a byproduct she had to endure.

Greatness at this level is an investment. Where she goes, based on the trajectory she’s been on since Harvard, required internal approval. Because of what it takes out and what it exposes her to, Thomas had to include this in her goal.

She has. Now she’s done. She has matured to the point where she believes she can handle the spotlight of stardom, and the pressures and burdens that come with its glory. All that remains is to win on the biggest stage. She believes it is her time.

“I definitely feel like a vet right now,” she said, “but I also feel like I haven’t reached my full potential. I feel like I can still do it. I feel like this is my year.”

GO DEEPER

Gabby Thomas: The American track star with a bigger goal than just Olympic medals

(Top photo of Gabby Thomas and McKenzie Long embracing after qualifying for Paris in the 200 meters: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)