SAINT-DENIS, France — Quincy Wilson is set to make his Paris Olympics debut.

Wilson received word that he will take part in Team USA’s 4×400 relay team, a person familiar with the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the relay team.

The men’s 4×400 relay begins Friday at 5:05 a.m. ET (11:05 local time).

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Wilson was originally selected on Team USA’s 4×400-relay pool after he finished sixth in the open 400 at the U.S. Olympic track and field trial.

The 16-year-old wonderkid broke the under-18 world record in the opening round of the 400, blazing one lap around the track in 44.66 seconds at the trials. Then Wilson bested the time in the semifinals, running a 44.59 to qualify for the finals. The high school record had stood for 42 years before Wilson shattered it twice within a matter of days.

Wilson, out of Bullis High School in Maryland, didn’t run on Team’s USA mixed 4×400-relay team that earned a silver medal at the Paris Olympics.

The U.S. men’s 4×400-relay team is the gold-medal favorite. They have won gold at the past two Olympics in the event.

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The rich have gotten richer through the transfer market. Many of the top available targets in the portal landed at some of the best teams in the Bowl Subdivision, drawn to both the increased name, image and likeness packages offered by college football’s elite programs and the chance to compete for the College Football Playoff.

One of the biggest winners was Ohio State, which was able to bring in an all-everything safety (Caleb Downs), a likely new starting quarterback (Will Howard) and the best available running back (Quinshon Judkins). Also in the Big Ten, Oregon looks to reload with a new starter under center (Dillon Gabriel) and an elite starting cornerback (Jabbar Muhammad).

Other programs with high-profile transfers include Notre Dame, Mississippi, Texas A&M and Miami. These are the newcomers set to make the biggest impact in 2024:

DB Caleb Downs, Ohio State (Alabama)

Nick Saban’s abrupt retirement and the opportunity for increased NIL offerings led Downs to leave Alabama after a superb freshman season that saw him become the first freshman to lead the program in tackles since at least 1970. He’ll immediately step into a starting role with Ohio State and become one of the top defensive backs and overall defenders in the Big Ten as the Buckeyes chase the national championship.

QB Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (Oklahoma)

While Downs will have two or more seasons to make his impact, Gabriel should have the biggest impact on this year’s Big Ten after a strong run as the starter Oklahoma. The senior has been productive across two FBS stops and brings experience and reliability to one of the top contenders for the playoff. Gabriel had a combined 73 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions in his two years with the Sooners.

DL Nic Scourton, Texas A&M (Purdue)

Last year’s Big Ten leader in sacks and quarterback pressures will be the centerpiece of Mike Elko’s new defense at A&M. The preseason all-conference pick had a terrific spring with the Aggies and is already listed as a potential first-round choice in next year’s NFL draft. Scourton also speaks to a greater trend around transfers and the portal: Big-name and deep-pocketed programs, such as Texas A&M, are able to draw talents such as Scourton away from other Power Four schools that simply aren’t able to keep pace from a financial perspective.

QB Will Howard, Ohio State (Kansas State)

It’s not guaranteed that Howard will step into the starting role with the Buckeyes after playing well in his almost two years as the Wildcats’ primary starter; he’ll have to fend off Devin Brown in fall camp to officially earn the job for the opener against Akron. As expected, he walks into a great position. The Buckeyes are deep at the skill positions and potentially dominant defensively, which would take pressure off of Howard as he adapts to the Big Ten.

QB Cam Ward, Miami (Washington State)

Ward considered entering this year’s draft but eventually landed with the Hurricanes, giving Mario Cristobal’s program a huge boost at a position of dire need after two disappointing seasons. A former Championship Subdivision standout at Incarnate Word, the senior threw for 48 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in two seasons at Washington State and has the athleticism to bring a new flavor to Miami’s underachieving offense.

DL Walter Nolen, Mississippi (Texas A&M)

Nolen finished third on the Aggies in sacks and fourth in tackles for loss in 2023, indicating that he’s close to tapping into his five-star potential. He’ll stay within the SEC as the biggest star in the Rebels’ star-studded transfer class. The biggest key to his development into an elite edge defender will be consistency: Nolen has had the tendency to disappear for extended stretches of play, though part of that can be attributed to youth and a lack of experience.

CB Jabbar Muhammad, Oregon (Washington)

Drawing in one of the top available defensive backs on the transfer market is great for the Ducks; doing so while hurting your bitter rival is even better. Muhammad spent his first two years at Oklahoma State, developing a name for himself as one of the best young defenders in the conference, before earning all-conference honors in his one season for the Huskies, who finished national runners-up. He’s expected to slot right into a starting role for Oregon and help keep the Ducks’ pass defense among the country’s best.

QB Riley Leonard, Notre Dame (Duke)

Leonard becomes Notre Dame’s second quarterback transfer out of the ACC in as many years, following Sam Hartman from Wake Forest. He’ll bring something new to the table as a runner and athlete, allowing the Fighting Irish to blend in a quarterback-run game that has been largely absent the past two seasons. The big question is whether Leonard can remain healthy after missing the final five games of 2023.

RB Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State (Mississippi)

Judkins might seem like an almost unnecessary addition given the Buckeyes brings back leading rusher TreVeyon Henderson (926 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2023). Look for Ryan Day to make it work by having both share the work. Judkins ran for 1,158 yards and 15 scores for the Rebels last year, coming on strong down the stretch with six 100-yard performances in his final nine games. Combined, Henderson and Judkins represent the top backfield pairing in the FBS.

WR Isaiah Bond, Texas (Alabama)

Bond is an enormous get for the Longhorns as they look to replace last year’s top three receivers and stay rolling on a course for the national title. He led Alabama in receptions (48) and ranked second in receiving yards (668) last season, playing his best in big wins against Texas A&M, LSU, Tennessee and Georgia. His proven track record of production in the SEC should quickly make him a favorite target for Quinn Ewers and the Longhorns’ passing game.

OXNARD, Calif. – CeeDee Lamb may be out of sight, with his holdout from the Dallas Cowboys training camp at two weeks and counting. But the All-Pro receiver is undoubtedly very much in mind as the drama around his contract status has a presence of its own.

When will it go down? For how much? Why has it taken so long?

You know. Typical questions attached to big-money negotiations. One fan carried a homemade sign to a practice earlier this week with a straight-to-the-point message for Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that simply read: ‘Hey Jerry, Pay CeeDee!’

Now if that doesn’t move the needle…

“This is a business matter,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy updated early this week with such a diplomatic tone. “We all understand that he’s putting in the time now. When he gets here, we’ll take that. We’ve also got to be smart when he gets here. We’ve got to ramp him up and get him ready to go.

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“There’s a lot of investment in CeeDee…So, we have a good foundation to lean on.”

Lamb, 25, surely feels similarly when it comes to the foundation of his game as part of the investment. He just produced one of the most prolific receiving seasons in Cowboys franchise history, leading the NFL with 135 receptions in 2023 and ranking second in the league with 1,749 yards while scoring 12 TDs. He took his game to a higher level as Dak Prescott’s best weapon, demonstrating how lethal he can be all across the formation.

Scheduled to earn $17.99 million this season on the fifth-year option, Lamb (who averaged $3.5 million on his four-year rookie deal) apparently sees now as the time to strike for that long-overdue, big-money extension. Can you blame him? Look at how the paydays have exploded for elite receivers as the NFL’s salary cap keeps expanding. Vikings star Justin Jefferson re-set the market with a four-year, $140 million extension with $110 million guaranteed. A.J. Brown struck a three-year extension with the Eagles averaging $32 million. Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown cashed in at $30.002 million per year; Miami’s Tyreek Hill restructured his deal for another three years at $30 million per year.

Lamb, and other top-level receivers in the midst of contract issues, including the 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk and Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase, are merely following the money flowing to their game-breaking position that keeps evolving in prominence in a passing league.

“I think it’s individual,” Jones, asked about the rising receiver numbers, contended to USA TODAY Sports. “I think it’s the happenchance of some very talented NFL players. And they happen to be, right now, premium receivers.”

Jones has long been one of the NFL’s premier salesmen, for sure, but based on merit, it would be a hard sell to suggest Lamb doesn’t belong at the top of the receiver scale. With the NFL’s salary cap rising to a record $255.4 million per team this year, Lamb’s timing for seeking new money isn’t bad, either.

Still, the Cowboys have been so strapped under the cap this year that they barely participated in free agency. And even though the cap is expected to keep rising – after jumping about $30 million per team in 2024 – Jones will be challenged to strike new deals that keep Prescott and star linebacker Micah Parsons, in the final year of their contracts, in the fold.

Is it possible that the Cowboys would let Lamb – or maybe even Prescott – walk next year?

It’s one thing to draft well, as the Cowboys have hit on their selections of core players that also include perennial All-Pro guard Zack Martin and cornerback Trevon Diggs. Yet with that comes paying top-dollar when those draft picks, like Lamb, blossom.

Interestingly, Jones referenced the Chiefs’ decision to part with Hill in 2022, trading the then six-time Pro Bowl receiver to the Dolphins. Hill landed a four-year, $120 million extension from Miami; the Chiefs have since won back-to-back Super Bowls without him.

“Were they as worried about losing him as our fans might be about losing Lamb?” Jones asked.

That prospect underscores part of the dilemma, especially for a team like the Cowboys – who have had one playoff failure after another despite compiling one of the NFL’s most talented rosters and winning 12 games in each of the past three regular seasons. On top of that, in recent years they’ve stretched themselves thin when it comes to cap flexibility, having borrowed against the future.

But still: Didn’t somebody mention being “all-in” for winning a Super Bowl?

Jones, whose franchise is the most valuable in the world with a worth estimated by Forbes at $9 billion, hasn’t brought (or bought) a championship home since the 1995 season. Earlier this year, the flamboyant owner, obviously embarrassed by the finish last season with one of the worst playoff defeats in franchise history, declared that he’s “all in” (again) for chasing championship glory.

That mission, though, begins with McCarthy having lame-duck contract status and with Prescott (whom Jones has said he wants to re-sign) in the final year of his deal.

It’s fair to wonder: How can the Cowboys be “all in” without striking a deal that has Prescott’s best weapon in camp?

“It’s a long way to January,” Jones told USA TODAY Sports. “Long way. Really, it’s not the end of the world to be out here (without Lamb) in these early days of training camp.”

In other words, Jones is not in a panic about it as holdouts have become a thing again in the NFL, even after stiffer penalties were written into the last collective bargaining agreement (struck in 2020) that were supposed to discourage such a tactic. Last year, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones and 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa missed all of camp before re-setting the market with new contracts. And Martin, the Cowboys’ star interior lineman, held out of camp until landing a new deal.

And the Cowboys can’t forget 2019, when Ezekiel Elliott missed all of camp – and instead trained in Mexico – until returning for a six-year, $90 million extension that guaranteed $50 million.

Elliott, reflecting on his holdout, shared advice for Lamb with reporters this week, imploring him to have “thick skin” to endure the twists of negotiations. Back with the Cowboys this year after spending a season with the Patriots, the running back also maintained that Lamb’s absence won’t cause any rifts in the locker room.

No, Lamb is hardly an outcast during his holdout. Fellow receiver Brandin Cooks has spoken with Lamb repeatedly.

“I think it’s important to let him know his teammates are thinking about him,” Cooks told reporters. “But at the same time, just talking to him, checking in on how he’s doing, not necessarily talking about football because I know there’s a lot going on there.”

As Elliott put it, “The team understands that CeeDee needs to handle his business, and CeeDee understands that he has the support of the team behind him. Just stay in shape, which it looks like he’s been doing, and be ready once the deal is done.”

After all, there’s a lot riding on that deal getting done – and not only for Lamb.

PARIS — LeBron James and Diana Taurasi know that by basketball standards, they’re old. They’re aware because, well, people won’t stop telling them. 

That quip about them being the grandpa and grandma of Team USA? Been there. The comment about them being some of the most seasoned veterans at these games? They’ve heard it before. They are the elder statesman and stateswoman of USA Basketball, longtime pillars who are going for their third and sixth gold medals, respectively. 

And yet, neither of them were the oldest basketball player at the Paris Olympics. That distinction went to Australia’s Lauren Jackson, who returned to the Opals this Olympics after missing Tokyo and Rio. When she took the court on July 29, at age 43 years, 79 days, she was officially ‘on the geriatric side of basketball,’ she joked. 

Taurasi, by comparison, is 42 years, 58 days as of August 8. James is 39 years, 222 days. 

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In other words, they’ve got some experience. 

Team USA is into the men’s and women’s semifinals, with the men meeting Serbia Thursday at 3 p.m. ET (9 p.m. local time) and the women scheduled to play Australia, and Jackson, on Friday, also at 3 p.m. ET.

Of course it’s true that with so much mileage on their bodies, Taurasi and James aren’t the players they were 10 years ago. They’ll be the first to say that. But it doesn’t mean they’re ready to walk away. 

‘I’m around a lot of young people all the time,’ Taurasi joked, ‘and one thing I tell them, if there’s one thing you can’t escape in this country and this world, it’s ageism.’ 

Then she got serious. 

‘You know I’ve gone back and forth with this answer and feelings with this question,’ she said. ‘You dedicate your life and whole career to something and you get the question, ‘why don’t you just retire?’ You know, this is something I’ve been doing since I was 5. It’s so easy for the question to be brought up in the manner where it’s not meant to be disrespectful but if you’re the person being asked, it is a bit disrespectful.

‘I’m here to compete, to play at a high level, to give to my teammates, and I’m here to win a gold medal. That’s it. I don’t care about the last 20 years, I’m worried about the next 20 years.’

It’s also not lost on her that while she fields endless questions about when she’ll finally hang up her sneakers, James’ longevity is often admired. 

‘Only a woman would have 20 years of experience and it’s an Achilles’ heel instead of something that is treasured and used as a way forward for our sport and for women,’ Taurasi said. ‘Hopefully we can change that narrative.’

LeBron James, Diana Taurasi made Olympic debut at Athens Games

Both James and Taurasi are still playing at a high level, too, evidenced not only by their inclusion on the toughest team in the world to make, but their play in the pros. James became the NBA’s all time leading scorer in February 2023, and Taurasi made the All-Star team this summer for the first time since 2021 after averaging 16.1 points and shooting 40.1% the first half of the WNBA season.

In Paris, Taurasi started the Americans’ three pool play games, averaging just 12 minutes per game but providing oodles of wisdom for the younger players.

‘People don’t understand the value of someone like Dee,’ said U.S. women’s coach Cheryl Reeve. ‘What she’s doing on the floor, within a possession, diagnosing things quickly – at times, she’s the one calling the action. If you watch her, she’s telling everybody what to be in. She makes things much easier for everyone.’

Reeve also deeply admires how players like Taurasi and James have maintained their physiques. 

‘I’ve been around Dee, around other great vets – they are exceptional at understanding how to take care of their bodies,’ Reeve said. ‘And you have to be, right, otherwise you can’t play that long. That should be commended. I always think about, every camp we came to, whether it was Sue Bird or Diana Taurasi, they were always the most fit athlete in that camp. You have to be, because you’re fighting Father Time. You’re trying to bat him away.’ 

While some have said James ‘isn’t the LeBron of previous years’ – including Olympic teammate Joel Embiid − it was the oldest player on the roster who saved the U.S. from embarrassment on July 20. In Team USA’s second to last tune-up game before the Olympics, James scored the game-winning bucket in the final seconds to earn a 101-100 win over South Sudan, staving off disaster.

James and Taurasi’s Olympic connection is unique, too, because they both made their Olympic debut at the 2004 in Athens. James was 19 then, and Taurasi 22. Taurasi is quick to point out that James ‘skipped a couple,’ along the way though.

‘We got such a cool relationship,’ James said. ‘First time I think I saw her was in London (in 2012), we pretty much looked at each other and said, ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ But it’s a blessing and honor to be able to still compete at this level and represent Team USA, especially at the later stages of our careers.’

That they’re here 20 years later is something neither could have anticipated. Jackson knows how that feels.

‘It’s a bit of time warp, being in this environment again, it’s crazy,’ said Jackson, a three-time WNBA MVP and two-time champion with the Seattle Storm. She described the whole experience as ‘bizarre.’ 

‘Twenty or thirty years ago, you wouldn’t have seen players our age still contributing, so it is special,’ Jackson said. ‘But they’re still playing in the NBA and WNBA. I’m not doing that. I’m legitimately old. I feel kind of weird being put in the same vein as them but it is special with our age.’

Jackson keeps tabs on both James and Taurasi’s careers, but hasn’t had time to chat with either of them since they’ve been in Paris. Meanwhile, Taurasi said she and James do ‘talk about what’s next in life all the time.’ They admire the next generation of talent, some of which they’re playing with here at the Games. 

That talent, she said, inspires them, too, and fuels their competitive spirit. It’s a big part of why they’re sticking around.

‘It’s hard to let go,’ Taurasi said. ‘And we’re still holding on tight.’

Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell.

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It was the highlight (or perhaps lowlight) of a fight-filled practice for the Seahawks. According to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, there were five fights during Wednesday’s practice, with two players getting booted from the field for their actions.

The most notable of the fights saw Metcalf swing a helmet at cornerback Tre Brown, though Metcalf instead hit safety K’Von Wallace, who was still wearing his helmet.

Afterward, first-year coach Mike Macdonald downplayed the skirmishes, including Metcalf’s helmet-swinging incident. Macdonald chalked the incidents up to players being ‘tired of going against one another.”

‘We’re right on the line right now. I think the guys realize that, you know, ‘Let’s take care of one another.’ Definitely don’t want people fighting out here and stuff, especially against our teammates,’ Macdonald told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero in an interview.

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Macdonald, who is succeeding longtime Seattle coach Pete Carroll, apparently stopped practice following the Metcalf skirmish to talk to the players, per Condotta, but Metcalf was not removed from the field. In fact, the two-time Pro Bowl receiver entering his sixth season with the Seahawks spoke to the team at the end of practice.

‘DK gave the great message at the end of practice, kind of putting everything into perspective. The guys finished it out the right way. So, proud of our guys,’ Macdonald said.

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PARIS — After competing in the Seine river for the women’s open water 10K at the Paris Olympics, American swimmer Katie Grimes hopes she never has to race in a river again. 

Unlike a lake or ocean where open water races are usually held, the strong current created novel race conditions for the 18-year-old two-time Olympian. 

“That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, ever, I think, with just the current,” Grimes said after Thursday morning’s race. When she dove in, she became the first American woman to compete in both pool and open water swimming at the same Olympic Games. 

“That’s something I’ve never done before, so that required a completely different mindset going into the race and just strategy. But it was changing the entire time I was racing.”

Grimes and fellow Team USA swimmer Mariah Denigan finished 15th and 16th, respectively, in the endurance race. Grimes’ time was 2 hours, 6 minutes and 29.6 seconds and Denigan’s was 2:06:42.9. But in open water races, placement is valued more than time because of unpredictable conditions. 

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Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal rallied late to win gold, while Australia’s Moesha Johnson, who led most of the race, won silver and Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci won bronze.

“I wasn’t really happy with the place, but I’m proud of myself for how I finished it,” said Denigan, a 21-year-old first-time Olympian. “It was definitely the roughest currents that I’ve ever experienced and definitely the toughest race I’ve ever done. So it was a race of experience, and that’s what shows on the podium.”

The first of the two marathon swimming races featured 24 athletes, who completed six laps around the 1.67-kilometer loop between two Seine bridges, Pont Alexandre III, the start and finish point, and Pont de l’Alma. 

While the first leg of each loop allowed swimmers to traverse with the current on the 795-meter straightaways, the back half forced them to fight against it. Olympic triathletes, who competed earlier in the Games, noted how the Seine’s strong current added extra challenges. 

“It was extreme,” Grimes said about the difference going with versus against the tide. 

“I think that they said the current was moving a meter per second, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but in the pool, that’s really fast. So you had to change your stroke rate completely just to keep up with it. I think it took twice as long to come back up as it did going down.”

Grimes and Denigan agreed that having more time training in the Seine would have helped prepare them better for the current and other conditions. 

But Tuesday’s training session was canceled because of questionable water quality and fluctuating bacteria levels  — an ongoing issue with the river, especially with E. coli levels, despite Olympics organizers’ $1.5 billion effort to clean it for the Games. Previously, swimming in the Seine had been banned since 1923.

Wednesday’s training session, Grimes said, was limited because they “didn’t really want to spend too much time here risking getting sick before the race.” At least one triathlete, Belgium’s Claire Michel, fell ill after competing in the Seine.

“I honestly didn’t think about the water quality that entire time I was in there,” Grimes said. “It’s just the last thing that was on my mind. I did swallow a lot of water, so I’m hoping that I’m OK.”

Earlier at her second Olympics, Grimes won a silver medal in the women’s 400-meter individual medley and finished 10th in the 1,500 freestyle at Paris La Défense Arena before taking on the Seine. At the 2021 Tokyo Games, she competed only in the 800 freestyle, finishing fourth. 

The men’s open water 10K is set for Friday at 1:30 a.m. ET.

For the Paris Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday, Team USA named swimmer Katie Ledecky and rower Nick Mead as its two flag bearers.

A four-time Olympian, Ledecky had another standout Games, winning two gold medals in the women’s 1,500- and 800-meter freestyle races, along with bronze in the 400-meter freestyle and silver in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. With 14 total medals, the 27-year-old swimmer is the most decorated American woman at the Olympics in any sport and the most decorated woman in swimming of all time.

Ledecky did not attend the opening ceremony — where LeBron James and Coco Gauff were the Team USA flag bearers — for the Paris Games on July 26 because her competition schedule began the following day.She’ll be joined by rower Nick Mead, a 29-year-old two-time Olympian who earned his first medal as part of Team USA’s gold medal-winning men’s four. The gold medal was the first for the U.S. in the event since the 1960 Olympics.At the Tokyo Olympics, Mead finished fourth in the men’s eight contest.The closing ceremony is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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