While playing games with the boss rarely happens, that is what Gabby Thomas and her team-mates were up to with coach Tonja Buford-Bailey, and the sprinter almost won thanks to one thing.
They say all work but no play makes Jack a very dull boy.
This also seems to hold true for Olympics champion Gabby Thomas who in the middle of intense preparations for the 2025 track season still found time for some fun moments joining her training partners to put their coach on the spot.
Thomas teamed up with her training mates, who include Olympics silver medalist Cyrena Samba-Mayela and Tamara Clark, and did a voice guess challenge with their coach Tonja Buford-Bailey.
The sprinters blindfolded their coach, had her sit on the chair facing a different direction, while they stood behind her.
What was coach Buford-Bailey’s task? To identify each of them by their voice. They went one by one, trying to hide their real voice as they said something, but the tactician could recognize the voices of all of them after two or three tries, apart from Thomas. Well, at least for some time.
Buford-Bailey could not recognize Thomas’ voice after three attempts and having been left alone, it was a bit easier although the three-time Olympics gold medalist also made the work simple by shouting and bursting into laughter.
“She almost got 100% on this one,” Thomas posted after, lauding her coach for recognizing nearly all her athletes.
But how could Buford-Bailey get it right with everyone else apart from Thomas? The 28-year-old shared a unique trait about herself that set her apart from her team-mates.
“I know my teammates. I am very good at imitating them,” Thomas told a curious fan, revealing how well she understands those she works with and how she made life for her coach difficult in the challenge.
Thomas teamed up with former American 400m runner Buford-Bailey in 2019 and their partnership has brought in three gold, a silver and a bronze medal from the Olympics as well as a silver in 200m from the 2023 World Championships.
Buford-Bailey met Thomas after the sprinter had foregone her first year of collegiate eligibility at Harvard where she graduated with a Degree in Neurobiology and Global Health and was pursuing her Master’s in Public Health and they had to come with a way in which the athlete could train and still attend her classes.