INDIANAPOLIS – Director Delethea Quarles of James Madison track & field has been appointed as the women's jumps/multis coach for Team USA in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
 
Quarles is in her second year at the helm of the Dukes' track & field program after spending 25 years at South Carolina. In her time in Harrisonburg thus far, JMU has seen her team set 49 top-10 program marks and five school records across the indoor and outdoor seasons. While in Columbia, S.C., "Coach Dee" helped guide the Gamecocks to a NCAA national championship in 2002 and coached a pair of NCAA individual champions.

"I'm most grateful and very honored to be selected to the USA Olympic coaching staff once again," said Quarles. "It is by far one of the highest honors I have received to serve my country. I thank God for my family, mentors, and those great athletes who have supported me in reaching this pinnacle point in my career."
 
Four women earned national athlete of the year honors with Quarles on staff at USC. Altogether, the program tallied 43 individual and relay titles since 1998, including a pair of outdoor high jump champions in 2015 and 2021. Of the 621 total All-Americans at South Carolina during her career, 50 came from her direct oversight of the jumps and multi-events. Her student-athletes accounted for nine of the squad's 82 total points en route to the 2002 national title, the first for the Gamecocks in any sport.
 
While Quarles's primary focus is on her athletes, her tremendous impact throughout the industry has led to numerous individual awards and honors. She's served on the Team USA staff at the IAAF World Championships in Doha Qatar, Beijing, China, Moscow, Russia and Daegu, South Korea – including serving as the women's team head coach at the 2015 event in Beijing. Additionally, Quarles coached at the World University Games in Naples, Italy, in 2019. Collegiately, she was named USTFCCCA Southeast Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2018.

In her earlier years of coaching, Quarles served Team USA at the World Junior in Canada and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She also mentored high jumper Jeannelle Scheper at the 2016 Summer Games. Over the course of her tenure at USC, the list of Gamecock Olympians, world champions and national champions include: Rachel Glenn, Wadeline Jonathas, Josh Awotune, Quincy Hall, Arinze Chance, Aliyah Abrams, Eric Favors, Chris Royster, Booker Nunley, Kenneth Ferguson, Andre Totten, Dave Winters, Pap Howard,  Leroy Dixon, Pap Howard, Antonio Sales, Isiah Moore, Shayla Mahan, Jason Cook, Terrence Trammell, Natasha Hastings, Michelle Lewis, Shevon Stoddart, Chelsea Hammond, Johnny Dutch,  Jason Richardson, Shalonda Solomon, Tiffany Ross Williams, Lashinda Demus, O.T. Lekote, Otis Harris, Demetria Washington, Tony Allmond, Jarrod Hutchen, Titi Ncincilli, Yann Randriansolo, Rogui Sow, Antionette Wilks,  Natasha Dicks, Dondre Echols, Aleen Bailey, Lisa & Miki Barber, Kierre Beckles, Ellakisha Williamson, Jackie Madison, Ronetta Alexander, Brani Cross, James Law,  Charmaine Howell, Marvin Watts, Stephanie Davis, Erica Whipple, LaKya Brookins, Amberly Nesbit, Lisa Misipeka, Dawn Ellerbe, Brad Snyder, Bert Sorin, Jimmy Hackley, Corey Bridges and Corey Taylor. Also at South Carolina, Quarles prepped former Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst.
 
Quarles began her career at her alma mater, Liberty, serving as an assistant coach for eight seasons. The Flames captured both men's and women's titles in the Big South in 1994, 1995 and 1996. She also represented the athletic department on the NCAA's Gender Equity Committee.
 
A member of the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame, Quarles helped the Flames capture outdoor conference titles in 1988 and 1989. She is a three-time All-American and placed fifth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship. She was the first athlete in program history to accumulate 200 points in a season and claimed an event title in the 100-meter hurdles in the 1989 Penn Relays. Her program record in the event stood for more than 20 years. Quarles is also a member of the Alleghany High School Athletic Hall of Fame in her hometown of Covington, Va.