Carl Lewis
winning four gold medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los
Angeles was honored by USA Track & Field
as the
fourth-greatest moment in U.S. track and field history in
the last 25 years.
Carl Lewis
entered the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles with the goal
of duplicating the quadruple gold medal-winning performance
by the great Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Lewis began
his quest in the 100 meters, where he easily beat a
tremendous field to the finish with his time of 9.99
seconds. Lewis' teammate, Sam Graddy, was the distant
runner-up and silver medalist in 10.19.
Lewis ran two
heats in the 200 meters on the morning of the long jump
final. It was an abbreviated long jump competition for
Lewis, who posted the gold medal winning jump of 8.54
meters/28 feet, 0.25 inches, on his first attempt. He
stopped jumping after a foul on his second attempt, already
knowing that the gold medal was his.
After a good
start in the 200m final, Lewis entered the straight with a
two-meter lead that held the rest of the way. Lewis won the
gold in 19.80 seconds, with his U.S. teammate and training
partner, Kirk Baptiste, taking the silver medal in 19.96.
Lewis
captured his fourth gold medal of the L.A. games in style by
anchoring Team USA's 4x100m relay that won gold in the
world-record time of 37.83 seconds. Lewis' unofficial split
from a flying start was timed at 8.94 seconds, and he more
than doubled his team's lead to eight meters down the final
stretch.
To win four
gold medals at the 1984 Olympic Games, Lewis competed in 13
qualifying rounds and final events over the course of eight
days.
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