Quincy Watts

Who is Quincy Watts?

Quincy D. Watts is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Quincy Watts attended the University of Southern California where he excelled not only as an athlete but also as a wide receiver on the college football team. He took up track at Sutter Middle School and later went to Taft High School. In 1987, he ran a 10.36s 100 m, which stands as the Los Angeles city section record, and at the time was the second fastest in CIF history, behind only Henry Thomas's 10.25 in 1985. That same year he repeated as the 200 meters Champion at the CIF California State Championships in Sacramento.

At first, Watts was 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.

In 1992, by far his most successful year, he won the Olympic 400 m title. He twice broke Lee Evans' Olympic record of 43.86, clocking 43.71 in his semi-final, before going on to record 43.50 in the final. He was a member of the 4 x 400 m relay team, running the second leg in 43.10, which smashed the world record in a time of 2:55.74.