American sprinter Gabby Thomas has hit back at racist trolls who have attacked her and accused her of faking a degree she received from Harvard University.
Back on Saturday evening, a random troll on X, formerly Twitter, remarked that Thomas ‘doesn’t sound like she’s the brightest out there.’
Thomas quote-tweeted that post saying, ‘You’re probably right [shrug emoji] [laughing emoji] darn my Harvard degree.’
That brought racist trolls out of the woodwork and Thomas was soon flooded with derogatory comments.
She addressed those additional attacks in a follow-up post the next day: ‘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 received some support from Alexis Ohanian – the founder of Reddit and the husband of tennis icon Serena Williams – who said those disparaging her were, ‘Clowns, not people.’
Gabby Thomas had to fight back against racist trolls who doubted that she had a Harvard degree
Thomas took to social media after days of abuse to express her complete shock at the treatment
Last summer, Thomas won three gold medals – including in the 200m dash and the 4x100m relay
Thomas got her degree from Harvard back in 2019 in neuroscience. According to the school, she also minored in global health and health policy.
She then went on to get a masters degree in public health with a focus in epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Thomas has competed in two Olympic games in her running career – the Tokyo Games held in 2021 and last year’s Paris games.
In Tokyo, Thomas won silver in the 4x100m relay and bronze in the 200m sprint.
But in Paris, she truly shined – winning three gold medals in the 200m, the 4x100m relay, and the 4x400m relay.
After winning the 200m, Thomas told reporters at the Stade de France, ‘This is six years in the making at least. All of it was for this moment. My coach told me everything we’ve done up to 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.
She added, ‘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.’
