Grand Slam Track is investigating the alleged abuse of three-time Olympic gold medallist Gabby Thomas at a meet in Philadelphia over the weekend.
The American sprinter posted on X, external on Monday to say that a man had followed her around the track and then shouted personal insults at her as she signed autographs for fans.
“Honestly the heckling is tolerable, it’s following me around the stadium that’s wild,” Thomas, 28, wrote in a later post.
She added that “anybody who enables him online is gross”.
Responding to a previous Thomas post, a man shared a video of him heckling the sprinter at the starting line of the 100m. Thomas finished fourth in the race, with Melissa Jefferson-Wooden coming first.
The man – who posts sports betting videos on Youtube – said the result helped him win money and posted images of his winning bets after backing Jefferson-Wooden.
“I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win,” he wrote.
In a statement to The Athletic, external, the event organisers said: “Grand Slam Track is conducting a full investigation into the reprehensible behaviour captured on video.
“We are working to identify the individual involved and will take appropriate action as necessary.
“We will implement additional safeguards to help prevent incidents like this in the future. Let us be clear, despicable behaviour like this will not be tolerated.”
