A typical day for U.S. track and field athlete Gabby Thomas is a full 24 hours. During the day, she trains three to six hours in anticipation of the 2024 Paris Olympics. But at night, she works at an Austin, Texas, volunteer health care clinic for people without insurance. How does one of the fastest athletes in her sport find the time to do it all? She attributes that work ethic to her mother.
“I was pushing myself in the classroom, in my extracurriculars and on the track, and it forced me to just get better at everything I was doing,” she said to NBC News. Thomas credits that drive to her success in the Tokyo Games, where she won bronze in the women’s 200-meter and silver in the women’s 4x100 meter relay. She also believes having additional interests outside of track plays a role in her athletic success.