Born on Dec. 7, 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia, Gabrielle Lisa “Gabby” Thomas is a world-level sprinter who competes in the 100-meter and 200-meter races for the United States.
Her major sporting accomplishments include two gold medals at the 2024 World Athletics Relays in Nassau, one silver and one gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, one bronze and one silver medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and, most recently and significantly, a highly coveted gold medal in the 200-meter women’s race at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, there’s more to Thomas than just her enviable athletic achievements. She studied neurobiology and global health at Harvard University and finished her master’s degree in epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 2023.
But what ethnicity is the monumentally talented star?
What is Gabby Thomas’ ethnicity?
As per Essentially Sports, Gabby Thomas was born to her mother, Jennifer Randall, a Black American, and her father, Desmond Thomas, who’s originally from Jamaica. Thomas considers herself to be both Jamaican and American (perhaps even more Jamaican than American, as she once told reporters, “Everyone knows that I am Jamaican because I do believe that that’s where I get my fast roots from. I’m just not going to sugarcoat it that’s what it is”).
Her mother has a PhD from Emory University and is a professor of education measurement who champions anti-racist tests. Her father played football at Duke University as a defensive back. That combination of academic and sporting achievement has clearly rubbed off on her — and, given Jamaica and the United States’ historic success in the various athletic sprinting events, it’s no surprise that’s what she’s best at.
We congratulate Thomas on her tremendous success at the Paris Olympics and wish her all the best in her future career.