Athletics-Gold medallist Thomas harassed by bettor at Grand Slam Track
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Three-times Olympic gold medallist Gabby Thomas said she was verbally abused at the Grand Slam Track meet in Philadelphia last weekend, the latest incident of harassment the American has reported this year.
Thomas, who won gold in the 200 metres, and 4x100m and 4x400m relays in Paris, said in a post on X that a man followed her around the track while she took pictures for fans and signed autographs, shouting personal insults at her.
"Anybody who enables him online is gross," wrote Thomas.
Thomas' post was in response to another on X which contained a video of a person heckling Thomas while she was on the starting line, shouting "you're a choke artist - you're going down, Gabby".
"I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win," the social media user wrote, with a screenshot of two multi-leg bets on the FanDuel sportsbook platform.
Grand Slam Track did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of American track's brightest stars, Thomas catapulted to mainstream fame after her breakout performance in Paris, gracing the cover of American "Vogue" magazine and appearing on U.S. talk shows.
But Thomas has also suffered the darker side of fame, describing on TikTok this year how she was stalked by a group of men at several airports, as social media gives female athletes greater exposure.
The incident at Grand Slam Track also reflected a growing link between sports betting and harassment, with female tennis players including Caroline Garcia pointing to "unhealthy betting" as a key culprit.
Major tennis governing bodies moved to combat online abuse published last year a report that attributed nearly half of abusive social media posts to angry gamblers.
"Thank you for pointing out this disgusting behavior," retired former world 10,000 metres silver medallist and NBC Sports commentator Kara Goucher wrote on X. "You are exposing the crap that women go through and will eventually help other women as well."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed Osmond)
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