Devon Allen qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics by winning the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.03 at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Published by John Alvarado, Cronkite News special to Fox News on August 5th, 2016

PHOENIX -- Devon Allen was a 13-year-old watching the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics when Jamaican Usain Bolt broke the world record in 100-meter sprint with a time of 9.69 seconds. The track and field events caught the eye of the young man from Phoenix.

"I wasn't really a hurdler yet," Allen said. "But, obviously I watched all the events in track. It looked cool on TV and they had the colorful opening ceremony. I thought this would be cool to do one day."

"One day" comes Friday when he will be a part of Team USA at the Opening Ceremonies in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The 110-meter hurdler has the second-fastest time in the world this year, .05 seconds behind Jamaican Omar McLeod.

Allen's track career began when he was spotted running at a local Boys and Girls Club of America as an 11-year-old by a member of the University of Southern California track team.