Carl lewis biography gold medals

In summerLewis competed on the European track circuit for the first time. He was one of several college athletes who were paid money for running abroad, in violation of NCAA rules. The two developed a bitter rivalry. At the U. He also won the meter run. Inat a meet in Indianapolishe made a jump that some say spanned 30 feet. But in a much-disputed ruling, an official nullified the jump, claiming Lewis had stepped past the board at the end of the runway, so the jump was never measured.

That same year, Lewis joined the Lay Witnesses for Christ, a carl lewis biography gold medals of Christian athletes, after meeting some of its members at a meet. Ina musician friend introduced Lewis to Sri Chinmoy, an Indian guru who assured Lewis that his teachings about inner peace and meditation didn't conflict with the teachings of Jesus.

Lewis came to regard both Chinmoy and the Lay Witnesses as spiritual advisers. ByLewis was the most famous athlete in track and field. At the national championships in Indianapolis, he became the first person in decades to win the and meter dashes and the long jump the same year. At the World Track Championships in Helsinkihe led an American sweep of the meter dash, won the long jump, and led the U.

But as the Olympics approached, Lewis was developing a reputation for arrogance. A profile in Sports Illustrated painted him as self-absorbed. Competitors thought his habit of raising his arms in victory as he reached the finish line was disrespectful to them. Some of them also resented the isolating limos and hotel suites meet promoters gave him.

Lewis won four gold medals in the Olympics in Los Angelesmatching Owens' performance in Berlin in He won the meter race in 9. But a backlash against Lewis's personality detracted from his feats. He was attacked as greedy when his personal manager declared that he wanted Lewis to make as much money as singer Michael Jackson. Lewis decided to stay at a friend's house, not the Olympic village, during the games, leading some to call him a prima donna.

He ran his victory lap after the meter race with a large U. Some news reports claimed Lewis had planted the fan there to give him the flag — though he hadn't. When Lewis chose not to take all his jumps in the long-jump competition, spectators who hoped to see him break the world record booed — even though he was following good track-meet strategy, saving his strength for his other events.

After the controversies, product-endorsement deals Lewis expected didn't come through, and he became bitter toward the press for a while. After the carls lewis biography gold medals, Lewis took acting lessons, played a bit part in a movie, and recorded an album, The Feeling That I Feel, and some singles. The album "wasn't bad. It just wasn't good," Lewis later admitted.

Still, his single "Break It Up" went gold in Sweden. He recorded with Quincy Jones and sang the national anthem at a few meets. InLewis's father died. He left his coveted meter gold medal in his father's coffin and pledged to win another one. As the Olympics approached, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson emerged as Lewis's top sprinting rival.

While in Rome, Johnson's coach was overheard making a comment that implied Johnson was taking steroids to enhance his performance. Word got back to Lewis. InLewis beat Johnson at a meet in Zurich, where he heard another allegation that Johnson was using performance-enhancing drugs. At the Olympics in Seoul, South Koreajust before Lewis and Johnson raced in the meter dash, the two shook hands.

A sign of steroid use. Lewis thought he'd failed in his goal to win another gold medal in the meter for his father. But before the games were over, Johnson tested positive for steroid use and was stripped of the record and the medal. Lewis was awarded the gold instead. Lewis continued to speak out against steroid use. He testified before a U. Once, speaking to a group of college students, he implied that he thought fellow U.

Olympic athlete Florence Griffith-Joyner used steroids — but the charges were never proved, and Lewis backed down from his statement. As Lewis turned 30, other athletes challenged his dominance of track and field. Leroy Burrell, Lewis's teammate in the Santa Monica Track Club, edged him out in the meter dash at the Goodwill Games and the national championships.

But at the same meet, long jump rival Mike Powell broke Lewis's ten-year undefeated long jump streak. The next year, Lewis had a sinus infection during the Olympic trials, and he only qualified for the long-jump team and as a relay team alternate. He led the relay team to a new world record, just as he had in Los Angeles. Ever sincewhen a young Lewis beat his aging idol Williams, he vowed to stop running once he was past his prime.

Byit looked like the time might have come for him to take his own advice. That March, he finished last in a meter semi-final heat at one meet. But he was determined to make the Olympic team once more. It was "better than all the others," he told a People reporter. This time I was a competitor. Before I was an icon. Being the world's fastest human and longest carl lewis biography gold medals wasn't enough for Carl Lewis.

Carol Lewis, Olympic track and field athlete, bobsledder, television sports commentator, and younger sister of track legend Carl Lewis, was born in As a child, Carol and Carl built a long-jump pit in their back yard and raced against each other. At thirteen, she competed in her first pentathlon, and broke the national record for year-old girls.

At fourteen, she came in first in the long jump at the junior nationals in Indianapolis. Inshe earned a place on the U. In college, she competed for the University of Houston track and field team, and was an NCAA long-jump champion twice. Inshe won both the indoor and outdoor titles. She competed in the and Summer Olympics, finishing ninth in the long jump in Lewis is also a member of the U.

Lewis retired from track and field in at a ceremony during halftime of a football game at his old alma materthe University of Houston. His nine Olympic gold medals leave him tied with s Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi for the most ever. InSports Illustrated named him the best American Olympic athlete of the 20th century. Today, Carl Lewis lives in Los Angeles.

InTexas Monthly reported that he was still running twice a week, as well as lifting weights and cycling. Lewis is pursuing an acting career. He played a security guard in the made-for-TV movie Atomic Twister, and he will appear in the science-fiction movie Alien Hunter, scheduled for release in Klots, Steve. Carl Lewis. New York : Chelsea House, Lewis, Carl, with Jeffrey Marx.

Hollandsworth, Skip. Trickey, Erick " Lewis, Carl. Trickey, Erick "Lewis, Carl. In the Olympics in Los AngelesCarl Lewis born became the first athlete, since Jesse Owens into win four gold medals in Olympic competition. In he competed in the long jump event at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, winning his fourth gold medal in that event.

Qualifying for the United States Olympic team every four years sinceathlete Carl Lewis has won nine Olympic gold medals in four different events and held world records in the meter dash and the long jump. Lewis's long domination at the Olympics and other international events is particularly remarkable in light of his sport of choice—track and field.

Lewis has defied not only the stopwatch but the march of time and has become, in the words of fellow athlete Mike Powell in Sports Illustrated, "the best track and field athlete ever. The rough treatment he received—stemming, he has claimed, from unfair press coverage—only sharpened his resolve to continue competing. The athlete "has become revered, as much for his longevity as for anything else.

When Carl was still a youngster, his family moved to Willingboro, New Jersey. Ray Didinger noted in a Philadelphia Daily News profile that Lewis's parents considered their youngest son "the third-best athlete in a family of four" and encouraged him to pursue music lessons instead. A dominant sprinter, Lewis won gold in in the and meter dash events and anchored the U.

InLewis repeated as the gold medalist in the meter dash and won silver at meters. InLewis would again anchor the 4x team to a gold medal and another world record. Lewis was an even more dominant long jumper. Only two other men in Olympic history have won four consecutive gold medals in one event, Americans Al Oerter in the discus and most recently, swimmer Michael Phelps, who won his fourth gold medal in the meter individual medley at the games in Rio.

Lewis came from a family of athletes. Two months later, the Chicago Bulls selected the track and field star in the 10th round of the NBA draft. Lewis' long competitive career came to an end on August 26,following his participation in the 4x relay at the Berlin Grand Prix. Despite his Olympic glory, Lewis has experienced a complicated relationship with the press and public.

Never lacking confidence, Lewis has been dubbed by many as just plain arrogant. Already sponsored by Nike when he was a student at the University of Houston, Lewis unsuccessfully tried to bat back the perception at the Games that he cared more about his commercial appeal than about the Olympics themselves. As a result of that perception, the swath of endorsements he expected after his winning performances never came.

In addition, Lewis was quite vocal against fellow athletes who'd been caught or were perceived to be, using steroids to gain a competitive advantage. His biggest target was Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who initially beat Lewis in the at the Seoul games but was later stripped of his title after testing positive for a steroid. But in Lewis had to admit that he himself had tested positive for banned substances during the U.

Olympic trials. In acknowledging the revelations, however, Lewis was far from contrite. Though he did not match past performances, his third-round leap of 8. Lewis' 8. Controversy struck when, as Track and Field News put it, "Lewis' attitude in the whole relay hoo-hah a few days later served only to take the luster off his final gold. Any member of the American Olympic men's track and field team could be used, even if they had not qualified for the relay event.

Lewis said, "If they asked me, I'd run it in a second. But they haven't asked me to run it. Lewis had skipped the mandatory relay training camp and demanded to run the anchor leg, which added to the debate. The final decision was to exclude Lewis from the team. Olympic team coach Erv Hunt said, "The basis of their [the relay team's] opinion was 'We want to run, we worked our butts off and we deserve to be here.

InWade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee 's director of drug control administration from togave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated that revealed that some American athletes had failed drug tests from toarguing that they should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics but were nevertheless cleared to compete. Before showing the documents to Sports IllustratedExum tried to use them in a lawsuit against USOC, accusing the organization of racial discrimination and wrongful termination against him and cover-up over the failed tests.

His case was summarily dismissed by the Denver federal Court for lack of evidence. The USOC claimed his case "baseless" as he himself was the one in charge of screening the anti-doping test program of the organization and clarifying that the athletes were cleared according to the rules. Lewis was among the named athletes and Exum's documents revealed that at the Olympics trials he had three positive results on a combined test for pseudoephedrineephedrineand phenylpropanolamine.

All were and are banned in sport due to their activity as stimulantsthough at the time all three were available over-the-counter as dietary supplements or treatments for cold and allergy symptoms. The combined concentrations of these stimulants detected in the three successive tests were 2 ppm4 ppm and 6 ppm. Lewis defended himself, claiming that he had accidentally consumed the banned substances.

After the supplements that he had taken were analyzed to prove his claims, the USOC accepted his claim of inadvertent use, since a dietary supplement he ingested was found to contain ma huangthe Chinese name for Ephedra sinicaan ephedrine-bearing plant which was then marketed as a weight loss aid.

Carl lewis biography gold medals

The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in but is now regarded as negative test. The acceptable level has been raised to ten parts per million for ephedrine and twenty-five parts per million for other substances. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed in that "These [levels] are what you'd see from someone taking cold or allergy medicines and are unlikely to have any effect on performance.

Following Exum's revelations the IAAF affirmed that at the Olympic Trials the USOC indeed followed the correct procedures in dealing with eight positive findings for ephedrine and ephedrine-related compounds in low concentration. The federation also reviewed in the relevant documents with the athletes' names undisclosed and stated that "the medical committee felt satisfied, however, on the basis of the information received that the cases had been properly concluded by the USOC as 'negative cases' in accordance with the rules and regulations in place at the time and no further action was taken".

There was never intent. He was never told 'you violated the rules, ' " said Martin D. Singer, Lewis's lawyer, who also said that Lewis had inadvertently taken the banned stimulants in an over-the-counter herbal remedy. I don't get it. Lewis has appeared in numerous films and television productions. He made an appearance on The Weakest Link.

InLewis appeared in the short documentary Challenging Impossibility which features the feats of strength demonstrated by the late spiritual teacher and peace advocate Sri Chinmoy. He was eliminated in the season premiere. As ofLewis serves as the head track and field coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston. He was elevated from assistant coach in Lewis became a vegan induring his late twenties, and has credited his outstanding results in part to his vegan diet.

President Donald Trump "a racist who is prejudiced, misogynistic, who doesn't value anyone outside of himself". Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable carl lewis biography gold medals. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. American track and field athlete.

Medal record. Athletic career [ edit ]. Fame as a competitive athlete [ edit ]. Breakthrough in and [ edit ]. Lack of endorsements and public perception [ edit ]. Ben Johnson and the World Championships [ edit ]. Long jump showdown versus Powell [ edit ]. Final years and retirement [ edit ]. Drug testing Exoneration [ edit ]. Achievements and honors [ edit ].

Personal best marks [ edit ]. Honors [ edit ]. Awards [ edit ]. Career after retiring from athletics [ edit ]. Film and television [ edit ]. Bid for New Jersey State Senate [ edit ]. Coaching [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Olympics at Sports-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 26, Retrieved January 21, Team USA.

Retrieved August 5, The New York Times. Associated Press. May 7, Retrieved July 22, Retrieved January 15, Retrieved July 8, Retrieved January 30, Archived from the original on August 9, Retrieved August 9, Retrieved March 31, Archived from the original on June 10, Retrieved June 9, Archived from the original PDF on March 29, ISBN Archived from the original on January 29, July 1, Archived from the original on April 4, Retrieved April 11, Archived from the original on July 2, Retrieved July 15, Archived from the original on March 24, Archived from the original on August 29, Archived from the original PDF on June 20, Retrieved June 10, New Gold Miner".

Track and Field News. September Archived from the original on February 16, Retrieved February 16, Archived from the original on February 5, Retrieved April 17, ISSN Retrieved January 2, The Dallas Morning News. January 1, Archived from the original on March 30, Archived from the original on January 21, Archived from the original on March 21, The Times.

Retrieved April 28, November 19, Retrieved December 30, Olympic Trials. July 27, Event occurs at — via YouTube. Petersburg Times: Top sports stories". April 30, Berlin " PDF.