Sports
Quincy Wilson gets a humbling taste of the Olympics — but it's just the beginning
SAINT-DENIS, France — For the first time since the spotlight began shining on the phenom from Bullis School in Maryland, Quincy Wilson wasn’t smiling. The infectious charm that made him so beloved these last couple of months was replaced with a stern countenance.
Wilson ran the first leg for the U.S. in the first round of the men’s 4×400 relay in Friday’s early session. Responsible for setting the tone, he ran his lap in 47.27 seconds — seventh-best in the eight-man field. And the kid was not happy about it.
Three weeks ago, after becoming a sensation at the U.S. Olympic trials, Wilson set a new personal best, running the 400 meters in 44.20 seconds at the Holloway Pro Classic in Gainesville, Fla. He wasn’t close to that at Stade de France.
“It was amazing,” Wilson said, his million-watt smile noticeably absent. “Was out there with a great team who was on my side through the whole thing. I wasn’t 100 percent myself, but a team came out here and did it for me.”
When asked about the context of not being 100 percent himself, he politely declined to answer. No excuses.
But he doesn’t need one. Wilson might be the only one disappointed.
The Americans recovered and qualified for the final round. No harm was done. The U.S. can still repeat as champions in the final on Saturday.
Wilson, in all likelihood, will be replaced for the final round. That was surely always the plan since the United States has elite options in the single-lap discipline.
Quincy Hall just won the gold medal in the men’s 400 meters. If he’s healthy and has the legs, he’s a virtual lock. Same with Rai Benjamin, who goes for gold in the men’s 400-meter hurdles in Friday night’s finale. Benjamin is a relay legend who has an Olympic gold (Tokyo) and two World Championship golds in the 4×400 relay.
“Tomorrow is going to be better,” relay teammate Vernon Norwood said. “I guarantee you.”
Wilson’s significance was so much less about his time and so much more about his presence. He made history becoming the youngest male to appear in an Olympics for America.
Norwood said he got so caught up in the moment, watching this 16-year-old make Olympic history, he had to snap himself back into focus for the handoff.
16-year-old Quincy Wilson makes his Olympic debut and becomes the youngest male track & field athlete to compete for the United States at the Olympics. 🇺🇸 #ParisOlympics
📺 USA Network & Peacock pic.twitter.com/XJ4HudX0Dx
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
“I’m super proud of him, to come out here and show his grit for us, for the United States,” Norwood said. He added, “It’s wonderful. I told him before we walked out. I said, ‘Hey, embrace it. You belong here. This is a privilege. Nobody in this world will get this opportunity, so make the most of it.’”
What’s more, these Paris Games have seen USA Track and Field re-established its dominance, and Wilson is one of the marquee prospects for the nation’s bright future in the sport.
Clearly, he was put on this relay team for that reality. The coaches chose to build up Wilson, getting him some valuable experience ahead of Los Angeles 2028, instead of rewarding another runner whose best days are behind him. Wilson is being groomed to be a successful Olympian.
“Absolutely!” women’s hurdler Masai Russell — who also attended Bullis and is close with Wilson — said when asked if she was proud of him. “When he was super sad that he didn’t make the (4×400 mixed) relay I was like, ‘You know, you’re 16. People would die to be in your shoes. … Some people who run track their whole life never made the team. … And I’m glad that he got the opportunity to run just so he could get the feel of this atmosphere. Because it’s pretty intense. So I know when he comes back, it’ll be a completely different story.”
Wilson wasn’t trying to hear any of that in the immediacy of 47.27.
And perhaps that’s the best thing to come out of his Olympic debut. The young fella wasn’t appeased by merely being here. If he needed any more motivation, he got it by being humbled on the Olympic stage.
“He’s a competitor,” Russell said. “Men are just competitive in general. But he is super competitive. Like we were playing (air) hockey together, and I was like, ‘Oh. … He don’t play no games.’ … I lost by, like, five.”
You just know Wilson — with his entire family in the crowd and his whole world in Maryland watching — had designs on doing something special in his first-ever Olympic appearance. He’s been watching everyone else compete, make history, waiting for a chance to do so himself. He seems to do so every time he steps on the track. He’s already set three under-18 records this season.
After he made American track & field history, 16-year-old Quincy Wilson’s competitors showed him love after the race. ❤️ #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/lXfg0jJYnd
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2024
But for the first time since the larger sports world learned the name Quincy Wilson, he looked like a 16-year-old on the track running against grown men.
He shot out of the blocks in Lane 4 and held his ground through the first 200 meters. But it looked as if he went too hard, perhaps governed by the adrenaline and excitement of a debut on the biggest stage of his life.
The youngster started to die out on the second turn and was struggling down the backstretch. The strength and experience he still needs was evident as he was sixth heading into the final stretch. Fatigue had his form out of whack as Poland’s 20-year-old Maksymilian Szwed passed Wilson easily. The only runner with a worse time in the heat was Renny Quow of Trinidad and Tobago.
Making matters worse, Botswana made a switch and put Letsile Tebogo, the new 200-meter champion, in the first leg. He ran blazing fast, smoking the field to give his nation the lead and speeding up the pace in the process.
Wilson gave it all he had, though. Exhausted, and no doubt embarrassed, he nearly came to a complete stop before handing off the baton.
Fortunately for the U.S., Wilson had some grown men behind him. And a crowd pulling for him.
“They got me around the track today,” he said. “My grit and determination got me around the track. I knew I had a great three legs behind me, and I knew it wasn’t just myself today. If it was just myself, we’d be in last place.”
Norwood immediately made up ground with a monster second leg, gradually getting faster and getting America up with the rest of the pack. His 43.54 seconds was the fastest of any leg in the first round, edging out Great Britain’s star quarter-miler, Matthew Hudson-Smith, who ran 43.87. They were the only two under 44 seconds.
Then Bryce Deadmon took the baton from Norwood and surged America two spots to fourth after the first turn. Deadmon posted the fastest third leg and got the U.S. on the heels of third place. Anchor Christopher Bailey still had work to do.
“It’s just going to be motivation for me,” Quincy Wilson said of his Olympic debut, “to give my team a better chance than what they had today.” (Hannah Peters / Getty Images)
With America back in the mix, and Botswana way out front, Bailey was patient at first. Then with about 150 meters remaining, he turned it on and passed up Japan to secure the No. 3 spot and America’s automatic qualifier in the final round.
“That was the plan,” Norwood said. “We put him out front. We didn’t want to give him too much responsibility. So it was my job to pick up as much as I can.”
Wilson’s best hope to stick for the final was to do something special. His frustration from not coming close to it was visceral. His Olympic debut about two to three seconds too long and yet over so fast.
Someday, he’ll benefit from the lessons he learned at Stade de France on Friday. He’ll see this experience as integral to the Olympian he becomes. He might even come away with a medal, as preliminary runners are also rewarded, not just the four in the final.
But in the moment, Wilson looked much more angry than appreciative. What’s inside him, which got him to this grand stage, won’t allow him to so easily set aside his performance. Which explains why he feels like a lock to be back on this stage again.
“It’s just going to be motivation for me,” Wilson said, “to give my team a better chance than what they had today.”
GO DEEPER
For Quincy Wilson, teenage track prodigy, everything’s different now — Olympics or not
(Top photo of Quincy Wilson running in Friday’s 4×400-meter relay: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Sports
Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June.
Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male.
Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling.
“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.
Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case.
(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital.
“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13.
Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters.
With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.
Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college.
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice.
Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)
SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.
“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Sports
Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush
Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.
“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.
Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.
On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.
The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.
Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.
Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.
(Lindsey Wasson / AP)
The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.
Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.
His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”
Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.
Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.
A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.
Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.
A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.
The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.
He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.
“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”
Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.
“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.
“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”
Sports
Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead.
“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights.
Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.
“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann.
One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”
Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”
Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.
After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.
In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.
Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post.
In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”
Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.
After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media.
Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Wisconsin4 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Maryland4 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida4 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Massachusetts2 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Oregon6 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling