Just the thought of running the 400 drove Quincy Watts to football. When he thought about it again, he came running back - to gold.
Watts, a 22-year-old student at Southern California and the No. 3 man on the U.S. team, ran the second-fastest 400 in history Wednesday. His 43.50 gave him a big margin over defending champion Steve Lewis and Kenyan Samson Kitur and further proved that USC coach Jim Bush knew precisely where Watts belongs. Even if Watts didn't want to believe it."Coach Bush and I sat down and we talked over the 400," Watts said. "The first time he said it, I went out for football instead. I really did not want to run the 400.
"The 400 meters, I think, is a grueling race. It hurts. And as a sprinter, you don't really experience that hurt, except if you go out for the mile relay. I think that's the reason a lot of sprinters stay away from the 400. It's a different kind of hurt."
much in football.
"I never played football before," Watts said. "I dropped some balls. It was tough."
So in March 1991, he sat down with Bush again.
"I decided track and field is what I love. So I said OK and we set a plan. I put my trust in him as a coach and it worked out well."
So well that Watts moved from being a novice quarter-miler to the third-fastest qualifier at the Olympic trials, then to a near world record and Olympic gold.
His time Wednesday was faster than the Olympic record 43.71 he set in a semifinal Monday, when he clearly started coasting 50 meters from the end. Had he gone all out in that race, the way he did the final, Watts almost certainly would have bettered Butch Reynolds' world mark of 43.29.
"I definitely think there is a 43 in my body," he said. "I think the world record was in jeopardy today and in the semifinals. Today I didn't execute, but anytime you put great athletes together who can run a 43, the world record is threatened."
Watts should be threatening the mark for years.
"Quincy is a great runner, strong and talented," Lewis said. "He has really come on."
Lewis came out of the blocks first and led through half the race. But on the second turn, Watts caught up. By the time they reached the final straightaway, Watts was in charge.
"I knew I took it out fast," Lewis said, "and by the time I thought about how I would position myself, Quincy was there. Basically, I just tried to stay close coming on in. It was his race."
It was a great race, one Watts couldn't conceive of running 17 months ago.
"As I ran the race through the season, I became a lot better," he said. "I got experience and I learned how to run it."