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Report: FanDuel says it banned bettor for heckling Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas
"This grown man followed me around the track as I took pictures and signed autographs for fans (mostly children) shouting personal insults."
FanDuel has banned one of its customers after a heckling incident involving Olympic gold medalist Gabby Thomas, according to ESPN.
“FanDuel condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes,” a FanDuel spokesperson told ESPN’s David Purdum. “Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports. This customer is no longer able to wager with FanDuel.”
Thomas won gold medals in the 200-meter dash, 4 x 100 relay, and 4 x 400 relay in the 2024 Olympics. She grew up in Northampton and is an alumna of Harvard University.
On Monday morning, Thomas responded to a social media post from X user “@mr100kaday”, saying that the man had insulted her at an event in Philadelphia over the weekend.
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“I made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win,” the man’s post read.
“This grown man followed me around the track as I took pictures and signed autographs for fans (mostly children) shouting personal insults,” Thomas wrote in response. “Anybody who enables him online is gross.”
The man described himself as the “Track and Field bully” in his bio on the social media platform. He tagged Thomas in a separate post with screenshots of a winning $1,000 two-leg parlay bet, thanking one of Thomas’s opponents for “beating the crap out of her.”
Grand Slam Track, which hosted the event, told The Athletic’s Jenna West it was investigating the matter.
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“Grand Slam Track is conducting a full investigation into the reprehensible behavior captured on video,” the track circuit said. “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 behavior like this will not be tolerated.”
There have been several incidents of athletes speaking out about fan behavior over the past few months.
Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks said he recieved death threats. Another Red Sox pitcher, Lucas Giolito said he received messages on Instagram from accounts telling him to kill himself. The Cleveland Guardians ejected a fan from Progressive Field when he told Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran that he should have killed himself.
Houston police recently identified a bettor who reportedly told Astros pitcher Lance McCullers that he would “find my kids and murder them.”
Thomas thanked her X followers for supporting her in the aftermath of the incident.
“Grateful beyond words for the love and support!! Especially this week,” Thomas wrote. “My supporters remind me why I keep showing up. Thank you, truly.”
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