'No, This Looks Bad' – Gabby Thomas Recalls Tumor Scare Weeks Before Paris Olympics

The American sprinter has opened up about a deeply personal health scare that tested her resilience ahead of a major competition.

Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas has opened up about the chilling experience of dealing with a tumor scare mere weeks before the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris — a setback that threatened to jeopardize her Olympic aspiration.

On The Squeeze podcast, American sprinter Gabby Thomas explained how what started as a normal check-up of her hamstring soon escalated into a terrorizing medical experience.

Thomas, preparing for the 2025 running season and the World Championships in Toyota in September, reflected on the emotional rollercoaster she experienced on her way to last year's Games.

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The world-class athlete had been battling a small hamstring strain when an MRI scan revealed to her something she was not expecting – a mass on her liver. Doctors instructed her to get some additional tests immediately, leaving Thomas nervous about her health and about her career on the track going forward.

"That was a fairly stressful time period," Thomas explained.

"I did have a hamstring, like a little hamstring injury strain. And I had an MRI on that as a matter of course. And they found, underneath the MRI, a mass on my liver… I remember my doctor telling me like, 'No, this is bad. You should get checked out some more.'"

'I swore to risk everything'

The timing of the diagnosis could not have been worse — three weeks prior to the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Thomas admitted that the fear of the unknown was choking her, but she silently vowed that, if she came out healthy, she would give it all to the track.

"I was stressed. I was really stressed out," she said.

"I said to myself, 'If I come out of this alive, then I'm taking the risk because I'm so grateful I'm healthy and alive and I'm doing what I want to do.'"

Luckily, further examinations determined the mass was not life-threatening, and she was able to compete again.

What followed was nothing short of spectacular: Thomas dominated the Olympic Games, claiming three gold medals and cementing her place as one of the world's best sprinters.

Looking back, the Harvard alumna says it made her even more thankful for the sport and for life in general. "It just made me appreciate every moment," she said. "You don't take things for granted after something like that."

Impelled by relatives to pursue neurobiology

Off topic, Thomas's math enthusiasm has a personal basis. She discussed on the podcast that she majored in neurobiology from Harvard because of her two neurodivergent brothers — one with autism and the other with ADHD.

"I have two brothers who are neuro divergent. One is autistic and has ADHD, and I would see them trying to navigate the world… I saw sort of just the limited resources that were out there," she explained.

This experience at home motivated her to do the same in pursuing a study on global health in an effort to increase the accessibility of resources and exposure for individuals such as her brothers.

Thomas's fortitude is not confined to the tumor ordeal. She also exposed last year enduring a nightmarish stalking ordeal at an airport — another challenge she battled with bravery.

With her sights set on the 2025 season, Gabby Thomas remains a tough competitor and an inspiration, proving that toughness is not just quantified in terms of speed, but in the ability to break through life's most daunting challenges.