Quincy Watts

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Quincy Watts
Personal information
Nationality American
Born (1970-06-19) June 19, 1970 (age 53)
Detroit, Michigan
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight195 lb (88 kg)
Sport
SportRunning
Event(s)100 m, 200 m, 400 m
College teamUSC Trojans
Medal record
Men's
athletics
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona 400 metres
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona 4×400 m relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1993 Stuttgart 4×400 m relay
Silver medal – second place 1991 Tokyo 4×400 m relay

Quincy D. Watts (born June 19, 1970) is an

athlete, and two time gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
.

Career

Born in

Sacramento
.

Watts began as a short sprinter, specializing for 100 m and 200 m, but the USC coach Jim Bush, convinced him to run 400 m, where he found his success.[1]

In 1992, by far his most successful year, he won the gold medal in the Olympic 400 m. He twice broke Lee Evans' Olympic record of 43.86, (set at altitude during the 1968 games in Mexico), clocking 43.71 in his semi-final, before going on to record 43.50 in the final. He was a member of the 4 × 400 m relay team, running the second leg in 43.10, which smashed the then-world record in a time of 2:55.74.

At the

World Record he had been a part of the year before. That race time still stands as the World Record. In the 1993 Individual 400m Final, where Watts was expecting to challenge the time of his relay teammates Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds, his custom built Nike shoe disintegrated as he was coming off the final turn. Continuing to run, he still managed fourth place.[2][3] Since this incident, poor Nike shoe quality has been referred to as "doing the Quincy Watts" in track circles. It has also affected Nike's concern for quality control.[4]

In 1994 and 1995, he failed to break 45 seconds and in 1996 finished a disappointing seventh in the US Olympic trials in a time of 45.64. Overshadowed by Michael Johnson, he retired in 1997 and was hired as the head coach to Taft High School. After his tenure at Taft, he worked as an assistant track coach at Harvard-Westlake School. Watts currently serves as an assistant coach for the Men's and Women's sprints teams at the University of Southern California. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, he also trains several professional athletes, including Willie McGinest and Curtis Conway. Notably, Conway was a high school competitor of Watts.[5]

Watts currently holds the position of head coach at USC.[6]

References

  1. ^ Williams, Richard (August 9, 1992). "He just keeps running away". The Independent.
  2. ^ "Blown out shoe in World 400 finals has Nike scrambling". Ludington Daily News. AP. August 20, 1993.
  3. ^ "The Quincy Watts Shoe Sole Explosion Alert:Something Smells Here". The New York Times International Edition. August 19, 1993.
  4. ^ "Sportsletter June 1996". Vol. 8, no. 3. June 25, 1996. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  5. YouTube
  6. ^ "Quincy Watts". USC. Retrieved October 11, 2019.

External links

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