Gabrielle Thomas of Team USA reacts after competing in round one of the Women’s 200-m heats on day ten of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on Aug. 02, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. Credit – Ryan Pierse—Getty Images

Graduates of Harvard University have gone on to become presidents, governors, senators, and movie stars. In Tokyo on Tuesday, American sprinter Gabby Thomas was chasing something no other Harvard graduate has—a track-and-field gold medal from the Olympic Games. (One former Harvard student did win a gold medal in the triple jump back in 1896, but he never graduated).

Thomas was a strong medal contender in the women’s 200-m. At the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials in June, Thomas ran the 200-m race in a stunning 21.61 seconds, the third-fastest 200-m sprint of all time. It made her the second-fastest woman in the history of the race; The only woman in the history of the sport who has run faster than Thomas is the legendary Florence Griffith-Joyner, who set the 200-m world record back in 1988.

To win Olympic gold in Tokyo though would have required beating a slew of talented athletes. The women’s 200 m was stacked with gifted sprinters like Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, who won gold in the event in 2016 and just won gold in the Tokyo 100 m, and Namibia’s Christine Mboma, who both ran faster than Thomas in their semifinal heat. Ultimately, Thomas finished third in the final, with a time of 21.87, finishing behind both Thompson-Herah and Mboma, who ran 21.53 and 21.81 respectively.