Quincy Hall is Ready to Run at Olympics
Former South Carolina national champion and All-American sprinter Quincy Hall (2019-2020) first started running when he was five years old after challenging some family members to a race. Twenty years later, he is an Olympic athlete who is in Paris for the 2024 games where he will run in the 400-meter event for the United States.
“I raced my older cousin and my uncle, and I beat them when I was just five years old,” said Hall, who earned his degree in sociology from Carolina and looks to get into coaching whenever he’s done competing. “My mama put me in track the next week! She just said, you’re going to run track, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”
Hall won the 2019 NCAA Outdoor National Championship in the 400-meter hurdles while competing for the Gamecocks and earned All-America honors four times. He was also the 2019 SEC indoor and outdoor champion in the 400 meters. His time at South Carolina served him well.
“I competed in the SEC against all those great athletes,” Hall said. “A lot of those athletes are the same ones I’m seeing on these big stages.
“Every time I step on the track, I’m trying to win. I’m just focused on my times and trying to cross the line first. I don’t get nervous on the track. You only get nervous when you don’t know what you’re doing. I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
“It feels really good to know that all the work I’ve put in on the track is paying off.”
He trained with South Carolina assistant coach Kevin Brown this summer, and his former coach is not surprised by Hall’s success.
“He trains really hard and is very dedicated,” Brown said. “He doesn’t miss workouts. He does a lot of things on his own that he takes responsibility for. It’s awesome to have our athletes in the Olympics. When you recruit them, those are their dreams. When you see it come to fruition, it’s great. It reinforces the commitment that we have here at South Carolina to help these athletes reach their dreams.”
“It’s still all settling in,” Hall said of making the U.S. Olympic team after running a personal best 44:17 at the U.S. trials to punch his ticket to Paris. “It feels really good to know that all the work I’ve put in on the track is paying off. I feel like my job is almost complete. I like doing all the hard work and seeing the results. I like working hard. I like to test myself.”
The father of two girls, ages seven and two, is grateful for the experience and likes to keep things simple.
“I’m a family man, an outdoorsman, and a hard worker,” Hall said. “I love my family. I love animals, and I love God.”
With that being said, Hall won’t let himself get caught up in any of the distractions around an Olympic experience in an exciting city such as Paris, as he has only one thing on his mind.
“Racing,” Hall said. “That’s it. I don’t care too much about all the other stuff. I’m there for a job. I’m there to lock in and have fun.”
Hall will run the 400-meter opening round on Sunday, August 4.
