For track and field star Twanisha “TeeTee” Terry, being an Olympic gold medalist and appearing in a Netflix special are just a couple of her accomplishments.
She’s a plant and dog mom. She hosts an online book club for readers nationwide and builds Lego sets in her free time. She’s a Nike-sponsored athlete with a penchant for the runway.
Above all, the 25-year-old Miami native is the Internet’s newest big sister, mentoring and inspiring hundreds of thousands of followers through her journey on and off the track.
“I’ve never been an athlete whose identity is tied strictly to track,” Terry said in an interview with Caplin News. “Once I received an Olympic gold medal, it definitely was a boost [in] being able to reach out to other people and see the impact that I have on other people.”
Don’t let Terry’s aversion to showing off fool you, she’s racked up titles worthy of bragging rights. She’s a two-time World Athletics Championship gold medalist in the 4 x 100 meter relay — the same category she won a gold in this summer at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games — and her athletic excellence is paying off beyond the sport.
It’s been a big year for her in many ways: Terry was invited to New York Fashion Week; guest starred in basketball legend Udonis Haslem’s podcast; received the keys to Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami; and made her TV debut in season two of “Sprint,” Netflix’s popular docuseries on professional track and field that premiered Nov. 13.
The show follows the world’s top sprinters — think Florida-borne six-time World Champion Noah Lyles and fourth fastest American woman Sha’Carri Richardson — as they navigate the 2024 Olympic season.
Terry was originally slated to appear in its first season, which garnered 2.4 million views and was Netflix’s sixth-most watched series the week of its release, but most footage of her was scrapped. Season two largely chronicles her role in the women’s 4 x 100 meter relay after coming in fifth in the women’s 100 meter.
Balancing her sportsmanlike smile and hunger for gold, she put on full display the chemistry and challenges that accompanied shifting from competitors to teammates within days.
“[The series] shows the dominance of Star Athletics,” she said, referring to the professional track club she and two other Team USA sprinters on the show, Richardson and Melissa Jefferson, train under. “[It shows] what we were able to accomplish and how we were able to create our own narrative and show that we’re one of the best groups.”
The sprinter credits her Miami roots with giving her what she needed to handle life in the big leagues.
“I feel like Northwestern prepared me for that,” she said, referring to Miami Northwestern Senior High. “We are such a powerhouse in track and field, so you’re used to training with other people who may be better than you.”
Terry started running when she was 9 years old, after trying out for a local track club on a whim. Her professional career took shape at Miami Northwestern, under the leadership of coach Carmen Jackson, whose program has churned out five Olympic athletes and garnered 14 consecutive track championships.
“A lot of times parents put a lot of pressure on young kids,” Jackson said, “and we lose a lot of kids because of that. That’s why they fizz out and don’t like the sport anymore. TeeTee was not raised like that. Her dad just let her have fun and let her be a kid. Once she was in ninth grade, that changed.”
After making the podium in national championships like the New Balance Nationals Outdoor, Terry was quickly recruited by the University of Southern California, where she balanced NCAA meets and 20-credit course loads for her communications degree. When COVID-19 shut down USC’s track season and postponed her going pro, she resolved to complete a two-year master’s program in half that time, while weighing sponsorship deals, eventually signing with Nike, whose iconic swoosh she now reps on and off the track through branded apparel and social media promos.
In March, Terry’s career met its first roadblock. The track star injured her hamstring, delaying her original training schedule for the Olympic trials in June.
“I didn’t compare myself to my [teammates] during the [trials]. . . I focused on myself and relied on the people that I needed, like my coach,” she said about how she pushed through her injury. “Lo and behold, I got third place to make the [U.S. Olympic] team, sweeping the podium with my teammates.”
Melissa Jefferson, 23, also ran the Olympic 4 x 100 meter relay this summer as part of Team USA. Her bond with Terry is a testament to the impact of community in her personal life and career, with the two growing especially close while training at Star Athletics, which Terry describes as “family.”
“She’s like the mother or auntie of the group. She looks out for everybody and that’s just her nature,” said Jefferson. “TeeTee was a really big part of me starting at Star Athletics. When me and my fiance [moved for the club] and it wasn’t ready for us to close yet, she was nice enough to let us stay in her home . . . that’s just her being a sincere and generous person.”
It’s this side of Terry that her fans — who call themselves TeeBabies, TeeAunties and TeeUncles — have gotten a sneak peek of as she begins training for the 2025 Diamond League circuit, a series of competitions that ultimately prepare her for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo next September. She also has her sights set on competing in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the city she considers her “second home.”
Despite her packed schedule, the sprinter has made it a point to give back to her supporters, handing out inspirational merch and visiting local schools to show others that the TeeTee success story can be theirs too.
“I just hope my impact shows anybody and everybody that they can do whatever they put their mind to,” said Terry. “They don’t have to put themselves in a box . . . and they don’t have to become a product of their environment.”
