Lewis the greatest athlete

Sampath Bandara

Carl Lewis is the greatest track and field athlete of all time.

Frederick Carlton (Carl) Lewis (USA) won 10 Olympic Medals including nine golds, and also 10 World Championships Medals including eight golds.

Carl Lewis was born on July 1, 1961, in Birmingham, Alabama the son of William and Evelyn Lewis, Lewis, mother and Father ran a local athletics club and that influenced both Carl and his sister Carol, to take to athletics. At the age of 13, Carl Lewis competed in long jump in the willingboro High School, he emerged as a most promising athlete of his school, later he was one of the top long Jumpers in New Jersey, Carl Lewis was initially coached by his father, Lewis broke the high school's long jump record with a leap of 8.13m (26 ft 8 in) after he joined Santa Monica Track Club.

Lewis qualified for the USA team for the 1980 Olympics first time but did not participate because of the usa boycott of the Moscow Games.

He clinched 100 metres 4x100, metres realy and Long Jump gold in first ever World Championships held in Helsinki and he bagged three gold medals in the second IAF World Championship which was held in Rome (1987). Carl Lewis' excellent performance in 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games he was able to clinch four gold medals 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and Long Jump Event a historic achievement indeed.

He bagged another two gold medals at the Seoul Olympics, 100m and Long Jump.

After another four years Carl got two gold medals again in 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games 4x100m relay and long jump event, his last Olympic gold medal clinched in 1996 at Atlanta in the long jump event. Lewis was a dominant sprinter and long jumper who topped the world rankings in the 100 metres and 200 metres and long jump events frequently from 1981 to the early 1990s.

He was adjudged 'Olympian of the Century' by the well-known American sports magazine 'Sports Illustrated'.

Carl's sister 'Carol' was also an Olympian, finishing 9th in the long jump event at the 1984 Olympics, and got a bronze medal in the same event at the 1983 World Championships. Carl Lewis became the first athlete since Jesse Owns in 1936 to win four gold medals in the same Olympic Games, in 1996 he competed in the long jump event at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta winning his fourth gold medal in the same event.

He didn't lose in the long jump for a decade winning 65 consecutive competitions.

Carl Lewis also appeared in numerous films and television productions.

Carl Lewis was a track and field star par excellence who had a brilliant career. He was a legend in the field of athletics.