ATLANTA — Before Gabby Thomas was racing to Olympic gold, she was racing the boys at Atlanta's Pace Academy.
"Pace is where I discovered that I was fast.," she told 11Alive's Cheryl Preheim before the Paris Olympcs. "All the boys in gym class would wanna race me. And I think it just really gave me confidence and a fun competitive spirit that still follows."
The year Atlanta welcomed the world for the '96 Summer Olympics, Gabby Thomas and her twin brother were born not far from the rings that would become such a symbol of her story.
"That is such a big part of why I'm here and and such a big part of my journey, is just the environment that I was a part of and the community," she said.
Community was always at the center, and her community in Atlanta is where she fell in love with sport.
"I grew up playing soccer and I played for Cobb FC," she said. Soccer started at age 5 -- running came into the picture in elementary school at Pace Academy off West Paces Ferry Road.
Thomas and her family eventually moved to western Massachusetts, and now she attends Harvard University in Boston. But she still has a deep appreciation of how her early years in Atlanta shaped her.
"It all just got me to where I am today," she said.
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