Fredrick Carlton Lewis, better known as Carl Lewis, was an American track and field athlete who shot to fame when he won 4 gold medals in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. He won gold medals in the 100 meter sprint, 200 meter sprint, 4X100 meter relay and long jump. Four years later, at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, he won two more gold medals in long jump and 100 meter sprint respectively. He also won a silver medal in the 200 meter sprint.

Carl Lewis was known for topping the world rankings in the 200 meter, 100 meter and long jump events for an elongated span of about 10 years. He has set world records in 4X100 meter and 4X200 meter relays and 100 meter sprints. Lewis is also known to have one of the longest winning streaks in the history of athletics, winning 65 long jump events on the trot over a period of ten years. He was voted “Olympian of the Century” by Sports Illustrated and “Sportsman of the Year” by the International Olympic Committee”.

Before the beginning of the 1984 Olympics, Carl Lewis was already a very famous athlete in the world. However, he was relatively unknown in the United States because of track and field events’ comparatively low profile there. He had the wish to equal Jesse Owens’ record of 4 gold medals in a single Olympics and strike endorsement deals with sponsors all over the world using the fame that was sure to follow. In order to achieve this feat, Lewis had a carefully planned out strategy of how to go about all his events. He won the 100 meter sprint convincingly in 9.99 seconds. He won the long jump with relative ease with his first and longest jump measuring 8.54 meters. His approach to this event was criticized because he did not exert himself to the fullest fearing that he might land himself an injury. After this came the 200 meter sprint, which he won in 19.80 seconds and set an Olympic record in the process. He also helped his team win the 4X100 meter relay in 37.83 seconds, which was a new world record.

Carl Lewis’ career after the 1984 Summer Olympics was extremely smooth. As mentioned before, he managed to win 2 gold medals and a silver medal in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, 2 gold medals in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics and one gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. After the Atlanta Olympics, he retired, pulling the curtains over one of the most glorious careers in the history of Athletics.