Paris, France - American sprinter Gabby Thomas celebrates her victory in the 200m at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, the crowning achievement of her career thus far.

Whether it is excelling as an Ivy League student or vying for success on the track, the 27-year-old says she has always been driven by a ferocious underdog spirit.

She was raised by Jennifer Randall – a single mother who herself rose from poverty to become a professor of psychometrics – and Thomas says her mother set the template for her academic and athletic success.

After attending Harvard, Thomas moved to Texas to chase her dream of one day running in an Olympics, a goal she had set for herself after watching US track icon Allyson Felix race as a child.

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Thomas burst onto the scene in 2021, scorching to victory at the US trials in 21.61sec which at the time made her the second-fastest woman in history over 200m behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner.

After taking bronze at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics, Thomas set her sights on gold in Paris which she collected with a blistering performance on Tuesday.

"When I moved [to Texas,] I was not an Olympian. I wasn't even close to an Olympian. Nobody was talking about me making the Olympic team," she said in an interview before the Paris Games.

"And now I am an Olympian, an Olympic medallist... but I wasn't always. And I had to force myself to be in that space," she added.