While the boat with the athletes of the United States of America was sailing through Sen, right next to the basketball legend Lebron James stood a boy younger than the NBA star's sons.
For many, a not very interesting detail from the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, but already tomorrow (Friday) it should become historic...
The boy next to Lebron is called Quincy Wilson, he is only 16 years old, and as ESPN writes, tomorrow he will represent his country in the 4x400 meter relay and thus become the youngest American athlete to ever compete at the Games.
His past has been characterized by speed that made him uncatchable for vranšanjes, and his departure for the Olympic Games arrived too quickly.
"Yeah, Paris definitely wasn't in our plans for this year's vacation until recently," said Quincy's mother, Monique.
Since his dad is a submarine commander in the US Army, Quincy spent his childhood mostly with his mother, and as soon as he walked, Monik noticed that her son was a little different from the others.
"He was always running and jumping around... It looked like he wanted to be the first to arrive everywhere," says Monik.
And then she chose to direct her son's energy towards sports, so at the age of three she enrolled him in soccer, or as the Americans would say "soccer".
"He was faster and more agile there than even the older kids... Even in school games when they had to catch him, the other kids would give up, because it was impossible," Quincy's mother added.
Even then it was clear that little Quincy was born to compete in running, so he quickly replaced football with athletics.
In his first major AAU Junior Olympics competition, eight-year-old Wilson finished fourth in the 400-meter dash. He says that this result especially motivated him, so during the next five years he triumphed four times - not only when the competition was canceled due to the corona virus.
"Long before that, in a school competition, his relay came second - he was so angry about that. But not at his friends, but at himself for not being able to lead them to victory. You see a lot about the character of an athlete at that moment, regardless how young he is," said Wilson's coach, Joe Lee.
As a boy, he ran from 200 to 800 meters, he was successful everywhere, but he says that he feels best at 400.
At the start of the Games, he did not make the team for the mixed relay, but now he is ready for the 4x400 relay...
And in excellent shape, since shortly before boarding the plane to Paris, he set the world record in the 400 meters for athletes under 18 years of age.
Bonus video:
