Home » Between science and athletics: Gabby Thomas, an epidemiologist on the Olympic podium

Between science and athletics: Gabby Thomas, an epidemiologist on the Olympic podium

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Imagine if she was behind the pandemic data and forecasts. An epidemiologist who in the rest of the time runs so fast that she wins the Olympic bronze medal. The fastest scientist on the planet, able to predict the distribution and frequency of diseases, is the American Gabrielle ‘Gabby’ Thomas, third on the 200 meters at the Tokyo 2020 Games, won by the Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah in front of the Namibian Christine Mboma.

Harvard studies and a passion for athletics

The life of the 24-year-old from Atlanta, Georgia is certainly not monotonous. She graduated in Neurobiology and Global Health from Harvard and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Epidemiology and Health Care Management at the University of Austin, Texas, where she trains.

Study and sport, a perfect compromise, since she was little. Softball, football, basketball, before the meeting with athletics. Thanks to the multiple American champion Allyson Felix, nine Olympic medals, admired on a lazy afternoon in front of the television.

The turning point of her career in the first year of high school, at the Williston Northampton School in Massachusetts: she is so strong that she was selected by the prestigious Harvard university to compete in 100 and 200 m, long and triple jump. Half lap of the track which is confirmed as the favorite specialty, with the NCAA title of 2018. Then the growth, up to the time trial of 21 “61 in the American Olympic Trials last June: second fastest woman ever over distance (she will become third after Tokyo By a romantic whim of fate, Gabrielle eliminates her idol Allyson Felix that day.

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Between books and training tracks

“The studio really makes me appreciate what I’m doing on the track”, he will confess after the exploit of the Trials. Its compass is science, the key to addressing and overcoming racial disparity in the national health system. An interest also motivated by personal experiences: “Both my brothers led me to Neurobiology” he declares to the newspaper The Undefeated. The child has autism, Gabrielle’s twin has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). A short attention span that is associated with impulsivity that is excessive for the patient’s age, and which can interfere with the person’s functionality and development.

A bad surprise

The other decisive moment a few weeks before the Trials, during control exams for knee discomfort. Diagnosis after an abdominal MRI is unexpected, dramatic: liver cancer. Cry, pray. Fortunately, the lesion turns out to be benign, no surgery. “The more I talked to people, the more the word ‘cancer’ was used. I was afraid,” he ventures. From fright he finds the strength to react, and on the track he learns to fly. Up to the Tokyo medal.

With stethoscope and foil

Not just athletics. Among the strongest fencers in the world there is a medical future. And it’s blue. Daniele Garozzo, Olympic champion in Rio 2016 and silver in Tokyo in foil, is graduating in Medicine at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Between jabs and exams, the life of the 29-year-old born in Acireale moves continuously from the platforms to the books. The next assault? Thesis.

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