American sprinter Gabby Thomas harassed by bettor at Grand Slam Track
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Gabby Thomas competing in the women's 200m on the Grand Slam Track-Philadelphia on May 31.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – Triple Olympic champion Gabrielle Thomas said she was verbally abused at the Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia last weekend, the latest incident of harassment the American has reported in 2025.
The 28-year-old, who won gold in the 200m, and 4x100m and 4x400m relays at the 2024 Paris Games, said in a post on X that a man followed her around the track while she took pictures for fans and signed autographs, shouting personal insults at her.
“Anybody who enables him online is gross,” wrote Thomas, who also has a silver and bronze from the Tokyo Games.
Her post was in response to another on X, which contained a video of a person heckling her while she was on the starting line, shouting “you’re a choke artist – you’re going down, Gabby”.
“I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win,” the social media user wrote, with a screenshot of two multi-leg bets on the FanDuel betting platform.
The track circuit said in a statement: “Grand Slam Track is conducting a full investigation into the reprehensible behaviour captured on video. We are working to identify the individual involved and will take appropriate action as necessary.
“We will implement additional safeguards to help prevent incidents like this in the future. Let us be clear, despicable behaviour like this will not be tolerated.”
Thomas finished third overall in the short sprints group for the Philadelphia meet, the third in the novel circuit's inaugural season.
One of American track’s brightest stars, she catapulted to mainstream fame after her breakout performance in Paris, gracing the cover of Vogue magazine and appearing on US talk shows.
But she has also suffered the darker side of fame, describing on TikTok this year how she was stalked by a group of men at several airports, as social media gives female athletes greater exposure.
The May 31 incident also reflected a growing link between sports betting and harassment, with female tennis players including Caroline Garcia pointing to “unhealthy betting” as a key culprit.
Major tennis governing bodies moved to combat online abuse and published a 2024 report that attributed nearly half of abusive social media posts to angry gamblers.
“Thank you for pointing out this disgusting behaviour,” NBC Sports commentator Kara Goucher, who was a silver medallist in the 10,000m at the 2007 world championships, wrote on X.
“You are exposing the crap that women go through and will eventually help other women as well.” REUTERS
