Dates:
1961 -Occupation:
track and field athlete
Carl Lewis’ Early Athletic Beginnings
Carl Lewis was born on July 1, 1961 in Birmingham, Alabama, but was raised in Willingboro, New Jersey. His parents, who were members of a local track club, introduced Lewis to track and field. It was not until Lewis had a growth spurt when he was fifteen years old that his potential became promising; in high school, he broke the prep school long jump record with a jump of 26 feet, 8 inches.
Lewis’ Olympic Wins
After graduating from high school, Lewis attended the University of Houston. In 1980, he earned a spot on the Olympic team, but the U.S. boycotted the Moscow Olympics. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Lewis again qualified for a spot. Lewis returned home with gold medals for the 100-meter, the 200-meter, the long jump, and the 4 x 100-meter relay.At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, he won the 100-meter dash after Canada’s gold medal winner Ben Johnson was disqualified for steroid use. He won the silver medal in the 200-meter and a gold medal for the long jump. In 1991, at the world championships in Tokyo, despite much younger competitors, in what Lewis considered his best race ever, he won the 100-meter dash and set a world record time of 9.86 seconds.
Lewis went on to qualify for the next two Olympic games. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Lewis won gold medals for the long jump (28 feet 5 ½ inches) and for the 4 x 100-meter relay. At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, he won a gold medal for the long jump. Lewis retired in 1997.
