A sports bettor who heckled Olympic champion sprinter Gabby Thomas during a Grand Slam Track event in Philadelphia over the weekend has been banned by the betting site FanDuel Sportsbook.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press on Wednesday, FanDuel wrote it "condemns in the strongest terms abusive behavior directed towards athletes. Threatening or harassing athletes is unacceptable and has no place in sports. This customer is no longer able to wager with FanDuel."
Last weekend, Thomas finished fourth in a 100-meter race won by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden. The bettor wrote in a post on social media that he "made Gabby lose by heckling her. And it made my parlay win." He posted a picture of his parlay that had Jefferson-Wooden winning the 100.
Thomas, the 200-meter champion at the Paris Games last summer, explained the heckling incident on X. She wrote: "This grown man followed me around the track as I took pictures and signed autographs for fans mostly children shouting personal insults - anybody who enables him online is gross."
Grand Slam Track, a track league launched by Hall of Fame sprinter Michael Johnson this spring, wrote in a statement it was "conducting a full investigation into the reprehensible behavior captured on video.