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CARL LEWIS     Four Olympic Gold Medals

Born: 1 July 1961
Died: Still alive
Location: Philadelphia, New Jersey, USA

At the age of 12 Carl Lewis won a regional long jump title. He was presented the trophy by the legendary Jesse Owens, star of the 1936 Olympics. Owens told him, “You sure are determined. You’re a small youngster among giants.”

Carl first began to compete at athletics from the age of seven. By 1981 he had won both the 100m and the long jump at the US national championships, a feat no one had managed in the same year since Jesse Owens 45 years earlier.

It was also in that year Carl was invited by his friend, William Gault, a notable sprinter and high hurdler to a meeting in another room of the motel where they were staying during a championships in Baton Rouge, L.A. The speaker was Dr Sam Mings, an evangelist, who spoke to the 200 assembled athletes on “Jesus Christ – man’s only hope.” He went on to explain the basic principles involved in beginning a personal relationship with Christ and concluded with a challenge to commitment.

Carl’s parents, both Christians, had brought up their children to know about God and to go to church. Carl had heard such a message many times before. But now, for the first time, he began to realise that he needed to take some personal action in response. He returned the next evening and at the invitation of Dr Mings asked Christ to come into his life. “I was always surrounded by a religious environment,” Carl recalls, “but I hadn’t actually made any kind of commitment. I made that commitment that night, because I felt some voids in my life and I knew they needed to be filled with the Lord.” The next day, Carl brought his brothers and sister to hear Sam Mings. Like Carl, they hesitated and then returned the following evening to make decisions for Christ.

In 1983 he became the first athlete in 97 years to win 3 national titles (100m, 200m, long jump). At the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Helskinki he won the 100m, the long jump and was the final leg of the victorious USA 4 x 100m relay team. His three team mates Emmit King, Willie Gault and Calvin Smith were all committed Christians.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles Carl won the 100m with a time of 9.99sec 2.5 metres ahead of Graddy in second place. He won gold in the long jump with a distance of 8.54m. He won the 200m with a new Olympic record time of 19.80secs. The US 4 x 100m relay team won with an 8 metre lead in a winning time of 37.83 secs – the first and only world record of the 1984 Games. The Americans knelt on the track in prayer and gave thanks for their victory.

It was Carl’s fourth gold medal. Asked for his reaction to equalling Owen’s achievement, Carl replied: “To duplicate one of track and field’s greatest feats is an honour. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. But I feel good about it because I worked for it. Jesse Owens is still the same man to me as he was before – he is a legend. I’m just a person.”

In 1987 he was beaten by Ben Johnson in the 100m. In the 1988 Olympics Johnson again won, only to have his medal and record stripped from him when he was tested positive for steroids. They were handed to Lewis, as was the 1987 race when Johnson admitted under oath to a 1989 inquiry to long term steroid use. Claims of Lewis using drugs were unfounded, and ignored the approval to compete the US Olympic Committee gave to Lewis and two other athletes when they tested positive for a declared herbal cold remedy.

In 1991 he broke the World Record at 100m with a time of 9.86sec at the Tokoyo World Championships. He also won gold in the 4 x 100m relay and silver to Mike Powell’s world record in the long jump. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona he won gold in the long jump and relay. He won the long jump 4 years later at Atlanta.

He retired from sport in 1997. In 1999 he was voted “Sportsman of the Century” by the International Olympic Committee.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“I’ve been given a talent and I’ve been given a trust, and that trust is speaking for the Lord because I love him so much. Jesus Christ is number one in my life.”

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