Quincy Hall refused to quit when the gold medal appeared to be slipping away from him in the 400-meter race. With only 100-meters left in the race, Hall was standing in fourth-place. As he seemed to be fading away, however, the 25-year-old found an extra boost of energy and overtook the three runners in front of him to clinch an unforgettable victory at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“I told you guys I was going to get a gold medal this year,” Hall said after the race, per NBC Olympics. “I know I can win. I knew it today. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole career.”
Hall said he was feeling pain as he trailed Matthew Hudson-Smith, Muzala Samukonga and Jerem Richards. Still, the American star didn’t let anything stop him from gold.
“I was just thinking, ‘Get home, sir. Get home, sir,'” Hall said. “I don’t give up. I just grit, I grind. I’ve got determination. Anything I think will get me to that line, I think of it. A lot of hurt, a lot of pain.”
Hudson-Smith, who represented Great Britain, took silver, and Zamiba’s Samukonga took bronze.
According to NBC Olympics, the last American to win gold in the 400-meter was LaShawn Merritt at the 2008 Beijing games. Hall, who finished the race with a time of 43.40 seconds, recorded the fifth-fastest time in the history.
Only a month ago, Hall won his first national title. He was also the 2019 NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles at the University of South Carolina. The gold medalist later transitioned to the 400-meter flat.
Noah Lyles, America’s 100-meter champion, was just as impressed as everybody else after watching Hall’s comeback effort. Lyles went to social media and reminded the world that Hall is a Dawgg.
@QuincyHall400 = 🐶
— Noah Lyles, OLY (@LylesNoah) August 7, 2024
Lyles had a chance to choose Hall for the 4×400-meter relay team. The 100-meter sprint champion, however, chose to go with himself, Christopher Bailey, Michael Norman and Rai Benjamin. When he explained his decision to leave Hall off the team, Lyles said it’d be a “waste of his talents.”
“The only reason I wouldn’t use the current U.S. champion is that I just don’t think he’d be a starter,” Lyles said in July, per On3. “Using him on the first leg would almost be like a waste of his talents.”
For Hall, all that matters now is that he is a gold medalist in the 400.
“It’s over,” Hall said. “For the next four years I can say I’m an Olympic champion.”
