SAINT-DENIS, France — Hands on his hips, eyes trained down track, Quincy Wilson swayed back and forth in front of his block, taking deep, calming breaths.
The 16-year-old was seconds from making history by running the opening leg for the U.S. in Friday morning’s men’s 4x400-meter relay prelims. American men have been competing in track and field at the Olympics for 128 years, but never before has there been anyone younger than Wilson.
Though Wilson kept pace with his competitors for the first half of his lap, he didn’t look anything like the teenaged phenom who took the U.