Gabby Thomas, Fresh Off Olympic Success, Debuts for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

The sprinter has achieved greatness on and off the track.
Gabby Thomas poses for SI Swimsuit in Boca Raton, Fla.
Gabby Thomas poses for SI Swimsuit in Boca Raton, Fla. / SI Swimsuit

The list of Americans as accomplished as sprinter Gabby Thomas by the age of 28 is not long.

Thomas is now the owner of three Olympic gold medals, having won the 200-meter race, 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay at the 2024 Paris Games. Already the owner of two medals from the 2021 Tokyo Games, she added a pair of World Relays gold medals in the Bahamas last May.

That's on top of her neurobiology and global health degree from Harvard and master's of public health from Texas. Now, she can add participation in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue to her lengthy résumé.

"I was definitely very self-aware of my body and my body type," Thomas told SI Swimsuit of her early days as a sprinter. "I teetered between not wanting to look too masculine and strong, and also wanting to maintain a feminine look and also be thin."

Track, Thomas said, helped her get more comfortable in her own skin—and she hopes she can impart that lesson to people of all body types.

"What I would tell girls now is to not worry about what society thinks about your body. Don't worry about what society tells you your body is for," Thomas said. "That's for you to decide, and you can do amazing things with it."

The 2025 SI Swimsuit Issue is available for order now and on newsstands starting May 17.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .