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

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, and two-time

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

ist at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

Career

Born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Quincy Watts attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC) where he excelled as a general athlete and a wide receiver on the college

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team. He took up track at Sutter Middle School and later went to Taft High School in

Woodland Hills, California Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California, United States. History The area was inhabited for around 8,000 years by Native Americans in the United States, ...

, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. In 1987, he ran a 10.36s

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

, which stands as the

Los Angeles city section The CIF Los Angeles City Section (CIF-LA) is the governing body of high school athletics for public schools in the city of Los Angeles and some surrounding communities. All of these schools were once associated with the Los Angeles Unified Schoo ...

record, and at the time was the second fastest in CIF history, behind only Henry Thomas' 10.25 in 1985. That same year he repeated as the

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

Champion at the CIF California State Championships in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

. Watts began as a short sprinter, specializing for

and

200 m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a Sprint (running), sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run th ...

, but the USC coach Jim Bush, convinced him to run

400 m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

, where he found his success. In 1992, by far his most successful year, he won the

in the Olympic 400 m. He twice broke Lee Evans'

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games. Summer Olympics * Archery at the Summer Olympics, Archery (List of Olympic records in archery, li ...

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. As of August 2024, this is still the track record for Barcelona and the secondfastest time run in Spain. He was a member of the 4 × 400 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

team, running the second leg in 43.10, which smashed the then-

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in a time of 2:55.74. At the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in 1991, Watts won a silver medal in 4 × 400 relay, which he turned to gold in the following championships in 1993 running the second leg on the team that took almost a second and a half off the then-

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

he had been a part of the year before. That race time still stands as the World Record. In the 1993 Individual 400 m Final, where Watts was expecting to challenge the time of his relay teammates Michael Johnson and

Butch Reynolds Harry Lee "Butch" Reynolds Jr. (born June 8, 1964) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years 9 days with his personal best time of 43.29 seconds se ...

, his custombuilt

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

shoe disintegrated as he was coming off the final turn. Continuing to run, he still managed fourth place. 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. In 1994 and 1995, he failed to break 45

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

s 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 at Taft High School. After his tenure at Taft, he worked as an assistant track coach at

Harvard-Westlake School Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. The school has two campuses: the middle school campus in Holmby ...

. 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 William Lee McGinest Jr. (born December 11, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college footbal ...

and Curtis Conway. Notably, Conway was a high school competitor of Watts. Watts currently holds the position of head coach at USC.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Quincy 1970 births Living people American male sprinters American football wide receivers USC Trojans football players Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field University of Southern California alumni USC Trojans track and field coaches World Athletics Championships medalists Track and field athletes from California Track and field athletes from Detroit Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics World Athletics record holders (relay) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics William Howard Taft Charter High School alumni Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games World Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) United States collegiate record holders in athletics (track and field) NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USC Trojans men's track and field athletes 20th-century American sportsmen