Gold medal support
Physical Therapist Thais Mollet ’99 paves road to podium for USA Cycling team
Thais Mollet ’99 took a bike ride that changed her life. You might say it led her to three Olympics.
A physical therapist (PT) and recreational cyclist, Mollet was biking one sunny afternoon and crossed paths with a former patient riding a hand cycle. Mollet had treated his spinal cord injury and stayed in touch over the years while he had become an accomplished para-cyclist with connections throughout the worldwide para-cycling community.
Through that serendipitous reconnection, Mollet landed an opportunity to serve as a physical therapist at the Para-Cycling Road World Cup in 2014 and the sport’s world championship event, where she met the Team USA track cycling coach.
After treating the coach’s wife, USA Cycling team member Sarah Hammer, Mollet was eventually invited to travel with the team in 2015, which she continues today. And what a ride it has been.
Mollet serves as PT for USA Cycling and travels about 4–6 months each year to world cup and world championship events with both the track and road cycling teams and the BMX freestyle team.
But the Olympics have been the highlight. Following the games in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 (due to COVID), the USA Cycling team experienced its most successful Olympics since 1984, collecting seven medals. Six of the medalists were treated by Mollet.
The U.S. earned its first gold medal in women’s team pursuit as well as individual golds in women’s omnium and women’s road race. “It’s incredible to watch these athletes train every day for these events and so gratifying and fulfilling to watch them compete at that level and to help in any way that I can,” said Mollet.
“It’s also heartbreaking when it doesn’t go exactly to plan and Chloé Dygert is an example of that.” Widely respected as the gold medal favorite for the time trial event, Dygert crashed in a turn on a rain-slickened track, Mollet shared. “But she got back up immediately and won the bronze medal, finishing less than a second away from a silver.”
Mollet has gotten very close to Dygert over the years. “She had a terrible injury four years ago and has been fighting to get back since then,” Mollet explained. “To see her win a team gold and an individual bronze this year was amazing.”
In addition to the well-timed bike ride, which set her on a path to the Olympics, Mollet humbly acknowledges the sage advice she received from a professor after a challenging first year at Wheaton.
Hailing from a very small high school in Westport, Conn., with just 48 in her graduating class, Mollet knew that she wanted to be a physical therapist from a young age and chose Wheaton for its size and its potential to provide the education she sought to pursue her goals. “I needed to have a true connection with my professors and figured out that majoring in psychobiology would provide me with the prerequisites for PT school,” she said.
Mollet met Kathy Morgan, associate professor of psychology, during her first year and shared her desire to become a PT. After an academically mediocre first year, Professor Morgan invited Mollet into her office and told her that if she wanted to become a physical therapist, she needed to improve her grades or she would not get into PT school.
“That made a huge difference for me,” Mollet said. “I turned it around and got straight A’s. So, I always give credit to Dr. Morgan because I don’t know where I’d be without her.” Mollet earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Boston University and gained experience at a few clinics before joining SpineNevada in 2008, where she served for more than 11 years.
When the pandemic arrived in 2020, Mollet ventured out on her own and established Mollet Physical Therapy in Reno, Nev. “As my own boss, I can travel whenever I want,” she said.
The flexible schedule provides the freedom needed to travel with the USA Cycling teams, providing daily massages and treatments for athletes with acute or chronic injuries, among other tasks. “We are a small group—including a coach or two, a mechanic and sometimes a massage therapist—and pitch in to do whatever is necessary to support the team.”
Mollet considers herself fortunate to do what she’s doing. “Coming out of college, I didn’t realize it was possible to travel the world and be a physical therapist—two of my passions. I’m very lucky, but I think that luck is where preparation meets opportunity and I was prepared when the opportunity came.”
She intends to continue with USA Cycling and hopes to go to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. “I get to travel the world and hang out with my friends and watch these athletes from the front row, so I have no complaints. It’s been a very rewarding career.”