In his illustrious career, the American track and field athlete won nine Olympic gold medals, including four at the 1984 Games.
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Carl Lewis defied age, gravity, and logic to have a stellar career in the world of jumping and running for more than a decade and a half. Hailed as the greatest American male sprinter in Olympic history, Lewis’ achievements are aplenty. Be it the nine gold medals he won in four consecutive Olympics or the four golds he won in the 1984 Los Angeles Games, Carl’s records have no end to it. When it comes to sprint or doing long jumps, not many were able to match the American toe-to-toe in his prime.
If his nine Olympic golds were amazing, his 65 successive victories in the long jump achieved over a period of 10 years is beyond incredible. The four successive long jump gold medals he bagged in the Olympics is an achievement that is difficult to put into words. A role model for many, Lewis continued to break records and maintained his scintillating form for a lengthy period. In a career spanning from 1979 to 1996, his ability to be successful and maintain the success through his long career makes him one of the athletes of the century.
Lewis entered into four events at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and his form prior to the tournament suggested that he had a chance of winning them all. The quest began with a stunning win in the 100m, running 9.99s to defeat his nearest competitor and fellow American Sam Graddy by 0.2s. However, controversy erupted with his outing in the long jump.
Carl went in as favourite and won the long jump with little difficulty. However, the way he won it left many fans baffled. Lewis still had heats and finals in the 200m and the 4x100m relay to look out for. Hence, he decided to take as few jumps as necessary to win the event to prevent him from getting fatigued or injured.
Is he the G.O.A.T of @Olympics athletics? ? @TeamUSA @Carl_Lewis collected 4 medals at Los Angeles 1984 and emulated his hero Jesse Owens by collecting gold in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and the long jump! ?
Relive this classic final here: https://t.co/o8rDvRzQwb pic.twitter.com/q4Y8ed6m2a
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) July 11, 2020
His first jump at 8.54 m (28 ft 0 in) was more than enough to win the event. He fouled on his next jump, but irked the crowd by passing on his remaining four allotted jumps. Lewis expectedly won the gold, and Gary Honey of Australia got the silver with a jump of 8.24m.
The public was upset that he did not try to surpass Bob Beamon’s legendary long jump record of 8.90m. When Lewis decided not to make any more attempts, he was booed by the crowd. Later, Lewis had said, “I was shocked at first. But after I thought about it, I realised that they were booing because they wanted to see more of Carl Lewis. I guess that’s flattering.”
He then clinched his third gold of the tournament in the 200m, where he won with a time of 19.80s. He then made the impossible possible, winning his fourth gold in the 4x100m relay, anchoring the final leg of the race. Thereby, he matched Jesse Owens’ feat of winning four gold medals at a single Olympic Games (1936 Games in Berlin).
That was the beginning of something special. Lewis won the 100m and the long jump gold in 1988. The long jump gold was bagged without much trouble, but in the 100m, Lewis was beaten to the finish line by Ben Johnson. But the Canadian was stripped of the gold medal for reportedly failing a drug test, moving Lewis up to first. He also bagged a silver in the 200m.
In 1992 Barcelona Games, he won a gold each in 4x100m relay and long jump. But his biggest achievement came in the 1996 Atlanta Games. With many writing him off due to his age, Lewis was not a favourite going into the long jump final. But the American still had a huge leap left in him to prove his critics wrong.
The age-defying jump is one of the biggest highlights in Lewis’ career. The man, who defied gravity and logic among other things, shook the athletic world with that incredible jump. Being successful in a sport and maintaining the success over a long period of time is not something anyone can do. But, Lewis is an exception. He is one of those athletes who have dominated the sport from the start to finish in a sensational fashion.
