Driven by an 'underdog' spirit

Whether it is excelling as an Ivy League student or vying for success on the running American track, Gabby Thomas says she has always been driven by a ferocious underdog spirit.

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The 27-year-old sprinter blazed to victory in the 200m at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday night, the crowning achievement of a sprinting career that Thomas says was forged by her upbringing.

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

"She's a go-getter," Thomas told The Guardian in a recent interview.

"She grew up in true poverty in Mobile, Alabama. But she went after it. And she just showed me through her actions, what it was like to do the same.