Lewis, Carl (1961—)

The son of two Willingboro, New Jersey, teachers, Carl Lewis went from being an awkward teenager to winning ten Olympic Gold medals before he retired in 1997, setting numerous world records along the way. Qualifying in the long jump for the first of his American record five Olympic teams in 1980, Lewis missed the Moscow Games because of the United States boycott ordered by President Jimmy Carter as a response to Soviet aggression in Afghanistan. He then won four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Games in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 4 X 100 meter rely, and long jump, matching Jesse Owens's feat at Berlin in 1936. In the process, Lewis not only tied Owens's record for track and field gold medals at a single Olympic Games but also revived popular appreciation for Owens's achievements.

Lewis went on to win gold at the 1988 Seoul Games, the 1992 Barcelona Games, and the 1996 Atlanta Games. In winning the long jump in Atlanta, he became only the second track and field athlete (after Al Oerter) to win gold in an event in four Olympiads. (He remains the only track and field athlete to have qualified for five Olympic teams.) Lewis aggressively controlled his own career and marketing; with his agent, Joe Douglas, he used both his individual success and that of his tremendously popular Santa Monica Track Club to professionalize track and field, allowing runners to support themselves through athletics. He also agitated for increased testing to end the use of performance-enhancing drugs in track. (While some observers considered it simple jealousy when Lewis claimed that Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson's victories over him were due to steroid use, Lewis's sentiments were vindicated after Johnson tested positive for steroid use at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.) While Lewis held no individual world records at his retirement in 1997, he had recorded numerous performances that were among the ten best all time in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 4 X 100 meters, and long jump. Despite never setting the world record in the long jump, with his consistency over seventeen years of competition at the highest level, he is most certainly the greatest long jumper in world track and field history.

Despite Lewis's success, however, he has failed to win the acclaim and endorsements in the United States that have greeted him elsewhere. While the fact that track and field has long been more popular in Europe and Asia partially accounts for this failure, other factors must be taken into account as well. Media portrayals of Lewis as aloof have most likely contributed to the American public's lukewarm feelings. Of perhaps more significance, though, have been persistant rumors about Lewis's sexuality (which he has refused to address in public). British decathlon champion Daley Thompson's decision, at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, to wear a T-shirt which asked "Is the World's Second Greatest Athlete Gay?" to a press conference after his victory—a pointed and unsubtle reference to Lewis—brought this controversy into the public. Since then Lewis has received less public attention than other athletes far less successful, in far less visible sports. Despite these questions about Lewis's public acceptance, however, he has not only been a successful competitor but he has also served as an articulate ambassador and advocate for his sport.

—C. John Smolenski

Further Reading:

Lewis, Carl, and Jeffrey Marx. Inside Track: My Professional Life in Amatuer Track and Field. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1990.

Smith, Gary. "I Do What I Want to Do: Carl Lewis." Sports Illustrated. July 18, 1984.