Thomas graduated from Harvard in 2019 with a degree in neuroscience and also minored in global health and health policy
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Gabby Thomas is fed up with online trolls questioning her education.
The Olympic gold medalist recently took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond to racist comments from those who question her degree from Harvard.
“Gabby Thomas doesn’t sound like she’s the brightest out there,” an X user wrote about the track star.
Thomas, 27, wasted no time and followed up the comment with a few responses of her own. “You’re probably right 🤷🏽♀️ 😂 darn my Harvard degree,” she wrote back. But soon after, Thomas said, she was inundated with comments from people accusing her of lying about her education.
In a longer post, Thomas addressed the racism in the assumption that because she is Black, she couldn’t have graduated from the Ivy League institution.
“Today, on Jan 26, 2025, there are hundreds of people commenting on my Twitter page that specifically because I am black, they must assume I did not earn my admission into Harvard nor did I earn my diploma. Is this real life??,” Thomas wrote in a separate message.
Echoing her sentiments, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian replied and told her that the people writing to her are “Clowns, not people.”
Thomas graduated from Harvard in 2019 with a degree in neuroscience, and also minored in global health and health policy, according to the university. In 2023, she also earned her master’s degree in public health from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Thomas’ Olympic dreams were realized on Aug. 6, 2024 when she won the women’s 200-meter final at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She crossed the finish line in 21.83 seconds — which was 0.25 seconds faster than second place finisher Julien Afred of Saint Lucia.
“This is six years in the making at least,” Thomas told reporters, including PEOPLE, at Stade de France after her win. “All of it was for this moment. My coach told me everything we’ve done up until this point — Tokyo Olympics, World Championships, even my injured year 2022 — it was for this, so that I was prepared and I was mature and I was ready.”
“I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would become an Olympic gold medalist and I am one and I’m still kind of wrapping my head around that,” Thomas added.
Thomas also nabbed two more gold medals later in the week alongside her teammates in the women’s 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter races.
