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American sprint queen Gabby Thomas has credited her track success to her college coach’s no-nonsense approach to nutrition following one nasty experience while on a school trip.
American sprinter Gabby Thomas has revealed how her college coach shaped her career by being so strict with what she ate.
Thomas was mentored by respected coach Kebba Tolbert at Harvard University where she nurtured her athletics career while pursuing her studies in neurobiology and global health.
Tolbert, who now in his 14th season as the women’s sprints/hurdles and horizontal jumps coach at Harvard shaped the career of the 28-year-old sprinter who became the first Ivy League women's sprinter to win an indoor national championship in the 200m, setting a new collegiate record by clocking 22.38 in the final event heat of the NCAA Division Indoor Track and Field Championships at Texas A&M.
She has since gone on to become a world beating athlete that now boasts of three Olympics gold medals, won at the Paris 2024 Games in 200m, 4x100m and 4x400m, but it was not always easy starting out going by the sprinter’s latest social media post.
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“My face that time in college when my team and I were travelling to a track meet early in the morning so I stopped at Dunkin for breakfast to go and buy a bag of donuts but when I got on the bus my teammates yelled at me for being unhealthy and my coach threw my donuts away,” Thomas posted on her TikTok account, before adding: “Learned a lot about nutrition that day.”
Thomas, however, also shared the other side to the coach, saying: “My coach was also the first person to buy me ice cream after a bad race too,” while agreeing that he was right to employ a strict approach with her when it came to dieting as she would not have turned into a pro athlete.
“He was right though…wouldn’t be here without him,” she added.
Thomas recently shared how she has now found a good balance between eating healthy and enjoying a sweet treat to ensure she stays in optimum shape for competition.
“When I post a picture of ice cream in a corner people are like: ‘Gabby you have to run, put that down.’ And I am like I mean I can eat it and I am still okay. Like yes, I get it and athletes have to eat clean and I do eat clean, I all get my nutrients and I take my multivitamins and all the things,” she said last month.
“But your favorite runner loves a sweet treat. I don’t know any athlete who doesn’t love a sweet treat. I don’t know any runner who doesn’t love a cheek meal and for me my cheek meals are like multiple times a week.”
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06:46 - 13.11.2024
‘I can eat it and I am still okay’ - Gabby Thomas slams fans who harshly judge athletes for having a sweet treat
Triple Olympics champion Gabby Thomas has hit out at fans who criticize athletes over their dietary choices, especially when they indulged in sugary stuff that many consider unhealthy.
Nutrition is one of the main ingredients for success in sports with athletes adhering to healthy eating habits to ensure they perform better and keep injuries at bay. Given what has been witnessed from Thomas, coach Tolbert was right to be strict.
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