# Carl Lewis Carl Lewis is one of the greatest track and field athletes in history, winning nine Olympic gold medals and one silver across the 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996 Games in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and long jump. He won the long jump gold at four consecutive Olympics and set multiple world records throughout his career. Sports Illustrated named him "Sportsman of the Century" in 1999. ## Quick Facts - **Born:** July 1, 1961 - **Birthplace:** Birmingham, United States - **Nationality:** American - **Occupation:** Track & Field / Sprinting & Long Jump - **Category:** Athletes - **Net Worth:** $20M (est. 2024) - **Also Known As:** The King, Son of the Wind ## Athletic career Fame as a competitive athlete Lewis performing the long jump as a University of Houston college athlete Frederick Carlton Lewis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 1, 1961, the son of William Lewis (1927–1987) and Evelyn née Lawler Lewis. His mother was a hurdler on the 1951 Pan-Am team. His elder brother Cleveland Lewis played professional soccer for the Memphis Rogues. His parents ran a local athletics club that provided a crucial influence on both him and his sister, Carol. She became an elite long jumper, finishing ninth at the 1984 Olympics and taking bronze at the 1983 World Championships. Lewis was initially coached by his father, who also coached other local athletes to elite status. At age 13, Lewis began competing in the long jump, and he emerged as a promising athlete while coached by Andy Dudek and Paul Minore at Willingboro High School in his hometown of Willingboro Township, New Jersey. He achieved the ranking of fourth on the all-time World Junior list of long jumpers. Many colleges tried to recruit Lewis, and he chose to enroll at the University of Houston where Tom Tellez was coach. Tellez would thereafter remain Lewis's coach for his entire career. Days after graduating from high school in 1979, Lewis broke the high school long jump record with a leap of 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in). By the end of 1979, Lewis was ranked fifth in the world for the long jump, according to Track and Field News. An old knee injury had flared up again at the end of the high school year, and this might have had consequences on his fitness. Lewis worked with Tellez and adapted his technique so that he was able to jump without pain, and he went on to win the 1980 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title with a wind-assisted jump of 8.35 m (.mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}27 ft 4+1⁄2 in). Though his focus was on the long jump, he was now starting to emerge as a talent in the sprints. Comparisons were beginning to be made with Jesse Owens, who dominated sprint and long jump events in the 1930s. Lewis qualified for the American team for the 1980 Olympics in the long jump and as a member of the 4 × 100 m relay team. The Olympic boycott precluded Lewis from competing in Moscow, Russia; he instead participated in the Liberty Bell Classic in July 1980, which was an alternate meet for boycotting nations. He jumped 7.77 m (25 ft 5+3⁄4 in) for a bronze medal, and the American 4 × 100 m relay team won gold with a time of 38.61 s. He received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created specifically for the athletes on the 1980 U.S. Summer Olympics team. At year's end, he was ranked sixth in the world in the long jump and ## Drug testing exoneration In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated that revealed that some 100 American athletes had failed drug tests from 1988 to 2000, arguing that they should have been prevented from competing in the Olympics but were nevertheless cleared to compete. Before showing the documents to Sports Illustrated, Exum 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 1988 Olympics trials he had three positive results on a combined test for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine. All were and are banned in sport due to their activity as stimulants, though 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 ppm, 4 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 huang, the Chinese name for Ephedra sinica, an ephedrine-bearing plant which was then marketed as a weight loss aid. Fellow Santa Monica Track Club teammates Joe DeLoach and Floyd Heard were also found to have the same banned stimulants in their systems, and were cleared to compete for the same reason. The highest level of the stimulants Lewis recorded was 6 ppm, which was regarded as a positive test in 1988. According to the IOC rules at the time, positive tests with levels lower than 10 ppm were cause of further investigation but not immediate ban. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco who is an expert on ephedrine and other stimulants, agreed in 2003 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 1988 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 1988 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 'nega ## Achievements and honors An Azerbaijan stamp honoring Lewis, issued in 1996 Lewis was the only man to successfully defend an Olympic long jump title until the 2024 Olympics, when Miltos Tentoglou became the second to achieve it. Lewis is still the only one to defend the title three times (four gold medals in four consecutive Olympics). Outdoors, Lewis jumped 14 of the 20 furthest ancillary jumps of all time. (Ancillary marks are those that are valid, but were not the furthest in a series.) Personal best marks 100 m: 9.86 s (August 1991, Tokyo) 200 m: 19.75 s (June 1983, Indianapolis) Long jump: 8.87 m (29 ft 1 in) 1991, 8.91 m (29 ft 2+3⁄4 in) 1991 (both in Tokyo) 4 × 100 m relay: 37.40 s (United States – Marsh; Burrell; Mitchell; Lewis – August 1992, Barcelona) 4 × 200 m relay: 1:18.68 min (Santa Monica Track Club – Marsh; Burrell; Heard; Lewis – 1994; (former world record) Honors In 1999, Lewis was voted "Sportsman of the Century" by the International Olympic Committee, elected "World Athlete of the Century" by the International Association of Athletics Federations and named "Olympian of the Century" by Sports Illustrated. In 2000 his alma mater University of Houston named the Carl Lewis International Complex after him. In 2010, Lewis was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2016, Lewis was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Awards World Athletics Awards 2× World Athlete of the Year (Men)：1988, 1991 3× L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1983, 1984, 1991 2× Associated Press Athlete of the Year: 1983, 1984 2× United Press International Athlete of the Year: 1983, 1984 USOC SportsMan of the Year: 1991 James E. Sullivan Award: 1981 Gazzetta Sports Awards 4× World Sportsman of the Year: 1983, 1984, 1988, 1991 Track & Field News 3× World Athlete of the Year: 1982, 1983, 1984 7× U.S. Athlete of the Year: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1991 ## Career after retiring from athletics Film and television Lewis in July 2009 Lewis has appeared in numerous films and television productions. Among them, he played himself in cameos in Perfect Strangers, Speed Zone, Alien Hunter and Material Girls. He made an appearance on The Weakest Link. He also played Stu in the made-for-TV movie Atomic Twister. In 2011, Lewis appeared in the short documentary Challenging Impossibility which features the feats of strength demonstrated by the late spiritual teacher and peace advocate Sri Chinmoy. Lewis also appeared in the film The Last Adam (2006). In 2024, Lewis appeared in the fourth season of Mask Singer: Adivina quién canta, the Spanish version of Masked Singer, under the Panda mask. He was eliminated in the season premiere. Bid for New Jersey State Senate On April 11, 2011, Lewis filed petitions to run as a Democrat for the New Jersey Senate in the state's 8th legislative district in Burlington County. Two weeks later he was disqualified by Lieutenant Governor and secretary of state Kim Guadagno, as he did not meet the state's requirement that Senate candidates live in New Jersey for four years. Lewis appealed his decision to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; the court initially granted his appeal but a few days later the court reversed itself and Lewis withdrew his name. Coaching As of 2025, Lewis serves as the head track and field coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston. He was elevated from assistant coach in 2023. ## Personal life In the 2025 documentary I'm Carl Lewis, Lewis revealed that he had never been in a long-term relationship out of fear that it would have affected his professional aspirations. He has a son named Bakim aka Blew, who is a Director/Videographer and lives in Houston, Texas. Lewis became a vegan in 1990, during his late twenties, and has credited his outstanding 1991 results in part to his vegan diet. He has said that it is better suited to him because he can eat a larger quantity without affecting his athleticism, and he believes that switching to a vegan diet can lead to improved athletic performance. At a 2019 Pan American Games news conference, and in the aftermath of the deadly El Paso and Dayton shootings, Lewis called then‑U.S. President Donald Trump "a racist who is prejudiced, misogynistic, who doesn't value anyone outside of himself". ## Timeline ### 1927 — Fame as a competitive athlete Lewis performing the long jump as a University of... Fame as a competitive athlete Lewis performing the long jump as a University of Houston college athlete Frederick Carlton Lewis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 1, 1961, the son of William Lewis (1927–1987) and Evelyn née Lawler Lewis ### 1951 — His mother was a hurdler on the 1951 Pan-Am team His mother was a hurdler on the 1951 Pan-Am team ### 1961 — Born in Birmingham Frederick Carlton Lewis born in Birmingham, Alabama. ### 1979 — Days after graduating from high school in 1979, Lewis broke the high school... Days after graduating from high school in 1979, Lewis broke the high school long jump record with a leap of 8.13 m (26 ft 8 in) ### 1980 — The Olympic boycott precluded Lewis from competing in Moscow, Russia; he... The Olympic boycott precluded Lewis from competing in Moscow, Russia; he instead participated in the Liberty Bell Classic in July 1980, which was an alternate meet for boycotting nations ### 1981 — Sullivan Award: 1981 Gazzetta Sports Awards 4× World Sportsman of the Year:... Sullivan Award: 1981 Gazzetta Sports Awards 4× World Sportsman of the Year: 1983, 1984, 1988, 1991 Track & Field News 3× World Athlete of the Year: 1982, 1983, 1984 7× U.S ### 1983 — Awards World Athletics Awards 2× World Athlete of the Year (Men)：1988, 1991 3×... Awards World Athletics Awards 2× World Athlete of the Year (Men)：1988, 1991 3× L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 1983, 1984, 1991 2× Associated Press Athlete of the Year: 1983, 1984 2× United Press International Athlete of the Year: 1983, 1984 USOC SportsMan of the Year: 1991 James E ### 1984 — Four Olympic Golds in LA Wins four gold medals at the LA Olympics, matching Jesse Owens. ### 1988 — Seoul 100m Gold Awarded 100m gold after Ben Johnson is disqualified for doping. ### 1988 — In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug... In 2003, Wade Exum, the United States Olympic Committee's director of drug control administration from 1991 to 2000, gave copies of documents to Sports Illustrated that revealed that some 100 American athletes had failed drug tests from 1988 to 2000, arguing that they should have been prevented from ### 1990 — Lewis became a vegan in 1990, during his late twenties, and has credited his... Lewis became a vegan in 1990, during his late twenties, and has credited his outstanding 1991 results in part to his vegan diet ### 1996 — Long Jump Gold at 35 Wins fourth consecutive Olympic long jump gold at age 35. --- Source: https://peoplebio.info/p/carl-lewis