CARL LEWIS ON USAIN BOLT
Track legend talks frankly about sprint star
NO ESCAPE FOR CHEATS
Olympic gold medal hero Chris Hoy welcomes new crackdown
Read
Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton hangs on to her world title
TOM DALEY HITS BRONZE | Olympic wonderkid makes his point in World Series
DWAIN GETS GOLD
SIMEON WILLIAMSON IS KING
From ANDY DUNN in Philadelphia, 11/07/2009
CARL LEWIS did not see Usain Bolt's jaw-dropping run in Lausanne but he doesn't really need me to tell him what happened.
He knows what's coming. I tell him anyway. Tell him that Bolt sauntered through a Swiss storm to record the fourth-fastest 200 metres in history.
And his look, his theatrical shrug of the shoulders tells more than a thousand words. But he gladly adds the thousand words.
Lewis experienced and saw many things in a controversial career that spanned two decades, four Olympic Games and nine gold medals. But he has never witnessed anything quite like the astonishing feats of the 22-year-old Jamaican.
He says: "He (Usain Bolt) could be the greatest sprinter of all time. I don't know.
"But I think it's interesting how in our sport, in our times, how someone can make that sort of dramatic change. But for someone who ran 10.00 seconds and now they are talking they can run 9.4 seconds the next year, it just boggles the mind.
TALKING SHOP - Carl Lewis (right) meets News of the World chief sports writer Andy Dunn
"I was in Osaka (for the 2007 World Championships) and I saw the 200m. I saw Tyson Gay just drill him (Bolt) and one year later he (Bolt) breaks the world record.
"Wow, that's a huge improvement in a year. And in the 100m it's gone from ten flat to nine seven. It's a huge improvement."
As much as he has been stunned by Bolt's stratospheric development, Lewis has been equally shocked by the absence of a challenge to his supremacy.
Bolt looks nailed on to surpass Lewis's tally of Olympic golds and it would be one of the biggest ever sporting shocks if he didn't clean up at next month's World Championships in Berlin.
But Lewis believes American sprinters are now suffering from the same disease that has blighted British athletics . . . a tolerance of the average.
He explains: "I don't understand why you don't have too many athletes. And one of the things contributes is that you accept mediocrity. Honestly I do. In America it's the same. We seem to say all the Caribbeans are going to win. Are you freaking kidding me?
"We've dominated and then all of a sudden, one Olympics and these Jamaicans come along and run these crazy times and performances and all of a sudden everyone says now they are the fastest. It's like everyone just lays down.
"Really, it's ridiculous. People need to get over it, go to work - and stop whining. We're worse than England. How can you tell me that a country the size of Philadelphia (Jamaica) is gonna beat the United States? It's not possible. So we need to get over it and get back to work."
SEOUL SHOCK - drug cheat Ben Johnson wins the 100 metres (left), watched by a stunned Carl Lewis (right)
That is why Lewis is trying to encourage a new generation of athletes to pursue the Olympic dream that he held as a young teenager. But it is not the only reason.
Lewis goes on: "I started dreaming about it at high school. But you never know what is going to happen. What is important is that athletics - and sport - offers an alternative. I hear that, in England, gang culture is becoming a big thing.
"Well, let me tell you. Being in a group of sportsmen that is going for Olympic achievement, is a far better brotherhood. A better sense of belonging and of bonding . . . without the guns and knives."
Of course, only the chosen few, the talented few, the blessed few, will ever come close to matching what Lewis - named as the Sportsman of the 20th Century - achieved. And there are also those who become disillusioned with a sport that has had more than its fair share of drugs scandals over the years.
In fact, think of Lewis and the mind's first entry is probably not his four-gold haul at the Los Angeles Games of 1984. And probably not his long jump gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
It is that startling image of him, incredulous and angry, coming second to Ben Johnson in the 1988 Seoul Games in the most infamous track race of all time.
Now 48, and over 20 years on, Lewis sits in a Philadelphia hotel room and relives the moment. He is not bitter. In fact, he is proud. He says: "When I crossed the line in '88, a lot of people looked at my face in that famous picture and tried to decipher how I was feeling.
"But the reality was that the year before, I gave my first gold medal to my father, I pressed it into his hand to be buried with him. And the last thing I said to him was that I will get another one next year.
Ambassador
"When I crossed that line, it was nothing to do with Ben being dirty, Ben winning the race . . . it was that I LET MY FATHER DOWN. The last thing I said to him was that I would win that medal. That's where my mind was. Then an interesting thing happened.
"When the race was over, Ben was celebrating, I went over to shake his hand and I tapped on his shoulder and he just turned away. And you know you can have five hours of thoughts in two seconds? I had five hours of thoughts.
"How dare he? I know I'm better than him, I know he's dirty. But I thought: 'What would you do if dad was there?' So I physically grabbed his arm and I made him turn around and made him shake my hand.
"Because I felt like if I had left that stadium like that, my father would have been all over me. No matter what Ben did, you don't walk off, losing like that."
Lewis is an ambassador for the National Lottery's When I Realised My Dream programme, counting down to London in 2012. The Games have divided the nation, with spiralling costs prompting widespread scepticism.
But Lewis has a simple message for Great Britain. He says: "It happens every time. Athens was the worst. Everyone said it will never happen and then everyone had an amazing time. So London, you're no different. Welcome to the ballgame."
The National Lottery is contributing up to £2.2billion to the funding of the infrastructure of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, where our athletes hope to fulfil their dreams. For more information: www.national-lottery.co.uk. Good Causes money raised from sales of Dream Number and certain specially designated Scratchcards and all online Instant Win Games goes towards London 2012 - giving lottery players the chance to 'Be Part of It'.
Your comments
This article has 5 comments
Why are people surprised at the achievements of the Jamaican sprinters. Have we forgotten the great sprinters that Jamaica has produced in the past? The basic principles are the same, desire, hard work and talent, mixed with a bit of technology. Usain is a giant of a man. Is it so impossible for a man that tall to have long powerful strides?
By Dave Thomas. Posted July 12 2009 at 9:30 AM.
Mr. Carl Lewis, when you were running the fast times in your era, did you like the fact that people were saying you must be dirty to be running so fast? Is it because MR. Bolt is not an American why it bothers you so much?
By father pow. Posted July 12 2009 at 5:58 AM.
Carl lewis is one of my top sprinter but after his nasty comments about bolt let me change my mind please (carl ) do some research on Mr bolt since he was a junior if you want to know why this guy run this fast at 200m check his 400m speed in high school, the guy is one of a kind dont be mad just give the caribbean the rating they deserve because if you check some of britian and american athlete they are from the region like: Donovan bailey, Ben jhonson, Keron clement, sanya Richard and the list goes on but thank God our athlete are saying home now so you all running to africa for there distance runners lol
By lerone lawson. Posted July 12 2009 at 5:47 AM.
Well if Carl has been following athletics, he would have realised that Usain Bolt was the best junior sprinter in history. He ran the world 200m junior world record at age 17 when he ran 19.93.
Usain was also the youngest ever world junior champion at age 15.
I don`t remember any of the great sprinters, Tyson Gay, maurice Greene, Bailey, Christie, ever doing what Bolt did as a junior.
Bolt is simply the best ever sprinter, period.
By Gary Morris. Posted July 12 2009 at 4:26 AM.
No one should ever be surprised about the achievements of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. The guy is a hardworking talented, special athlete, who is strong and is in good health.
I am one Jamaican who does not believe in drug cheats; and when such persons are found they should be banned from sports for life.
I am aware that Usain Bolt has never used any form of performance enhancing drugs to boost his performances. Unlike others in other countries who have been drug cheats, this wonderful sprinter extraordinaire has no need to be involved in such practices. He is a natural.
I know that his performances continue to bother many athletes in Track and Field, but I would encourage them to be clean like Bolt and work hard.
Jamaica has a sprint factory which is second to none; and very soon the world will be hearing more names that are going to do well on the international scene.
By George Henry. Posted July 12 2009 at 2:38 AM.
Track legend talks frankly about sprint star
NO ESCAPE FOR CHEATS
Olympic gold medal hero Chris Hoy welcomes new crackdown
Read
Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton hangs on to her world title
TOM DALEY HITS BRONZE | Olympic wonderkid makes his point in World Series
DWAIN GETS GOLD
SIMEON WILLIAMSON IS KING
From ANDY DUNN in Philadelphia, 11/07/2009
CARL LEWIS did not see Usain Bolt's jaw-dropping run in Lausanne but he doesn't really need me to tell him what happened.
He knows what's coming. I tell him anyway. Tell him that Bolt sauntered through a Swiss storm to record the fourth-fastest 200 metres in history.
And his look, his theatrical shrug of the shoulders tells more than a thousand words. But he gladly adds the thousand words.
Lewis experienced and saw many things in a controversial career that spanned two decades, four Olympic Games and nine gold medals. But he has never witnessed anything quite like the astonishing feats of the 22-year-old Jamaican.
He says: "He (Usain Bolt) could be the greatest sprinter of all time. I don't know.
"But I think it's interesting how in our sport, in our times, how someone can make that sort of dramatic change. But for someone who ran 10.00 seconds and now they are talking they can run 9.4 seconds the next year, it just boggles the mind.
TALKING SHOP - Carl Lewis (right) meets News of the World chief sports writer Andy Dunn
"I was in Osaka (for the 2007 World Championships) and I saw the 200m. I saw Tyson Gay just drill him (Bolt) and one year later he (Bolt) breaks the world record.
"Wow, that's a huge improvement in a year. And in the 100m it's gone from ten flat to nine seven. It's a huge improvement."
As much as he has been stunned by Bolt's stratospheric development, Lewis has been equally shocked by the absence of a challenge to his supremacy.
Bolt looks nailed on to surpass Lewis's tally of Olympic golds and it would be one of the biggest ever sporting shocks if he didn't clean up at next month's World Championships in Berlin.
But Lewis believes American sprinters are now suffering from the same disease that has blighted British athletics . . . a tolerance of the average.
He explains: "I don't understand why you don't have too many athletes. And one of the things contributes is that you accept mediocrity. Honestly I do. In America it's the same. We seem to say all the Caribbeans are going to win. Are you freaking kidding me?
"We've dominated and then all of a sudden, one Olympics and these Jamaicans come along and run these crazy times and performances and all of a sudden everyone says now they are the fastest. It's like everyone just lays down.
"Really, it's ridiculous. People need to get over it, go to work - and stop whining. We're worse than England. How can you tell me that a country the size of Philadelphia (Jamaica) is gonna beat the United States? It's not possible. So we need to get over it and get back to work."
SEOUL SHOCK - drug cheat Ben Johnson wins the 100 metres (left), watched by a stunned Carl Lewis (right)
That is why Lewis is trying to encourage a new generation of athletes to pursue the Olympic dream that he held as a young teenager. But it is not the only reason.
Lewis goes on: "I started dreaming about it at high school. But you never know what is going to happen. What is important is that athletics - and sport - offers an alternative. I hear that, in England, gang culture is becoming a big thing.
"Well, let me tell you. Being in a group of sportsmen that is going for Olympic achievement, is a far better brotherhood. A better sense of belonging and of bonding . . . without the guns and knives."
Of course, only the chosen few, the talented few, the blessed few, will ever come close to matching what Lewis - named as the Sportsman of the 20th Century - achieved. And there are also those who become disillusioned with a sport that has had more than its fair share of drugs scandals over the years.
In fact, think of Lewis and the mind's first entry is probably not his four-gold haul at the Los Angeles Games of 1984. And probably not his long jump gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
It is that startling image of him, incredulous and angry, coming second to Ben Johnson in the 1988 Seoul Games in the most infamous track race of all time.
Now 48, and over 20 years on, Lewis sits in a Philadelphia hotel room and relives the moment. He is not bitter. In fact, he is proud. He says: "When I crossed the line in '88, a lot of people looked at my face in that famous picture and tried to decipher how I was feeling.
"But the reality was that the year before, I gave my first gold medal to my father, I pressed it into his hand to be buried with him. And the last thing I said to him was that I will get another one next year.
Ambassador
"When I crossed that line, it was nothing to do with Ben being dirty, Ben winning the race . . . it was that I LET MY FATHER DOWN. The last thing I said to him was that I would win that medal. That's where my mind was. Then an interesting thing happened.
"When the race was over, Ben was celebrating, I went over to shake his hand and I tapped on his shoulder and he just turned away. And you know you can have five hours of thoughts in two seconds? I had five hours of thoughts.
"How dare he? I know I'm better than him, I know he's dirty. But I thought: 'What would you do if dad was there?' So I physically grabbed his arm and I made him turn around and made him shake my hand.
"Because I felt like if I had left that stadium like that, my father would have been all over me. No matter what Ben did, you don't walk off, losing like that."
Lewis is an ambassador for the National Lottery's When I Realised My Dream programme, counting down to London in 2012. The Games have divided the nation, with spiralling costs prompting widespread scepticism.
But Lewis has a simple message for Great Britain. He says: "It happens every time. Athens was the worst. Everyone said it will never happen and then everyone had an amazing time. So London, you're no different. Welcome to the ballgame."
The National Lottery is contributing up to £2.2billion to the funding of the infrastructure of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, where our athletes hope to fulfil their dreams. For more information: www.national-lottery.co.uk. Good Causes money raised from sales of Dream Number and certain specially designated Scratchcards and all online Instant Win Games goes towards London 2012 - giving lottery players the chance to 'Be Part of It'.
Your comments
This article has 5 comments
Why are people surprised at the achievements of the Jamaican sprinters. Have we forgotten the great sprinters that Jamaica has produced in the past? The basic principles are the same, desire, hard work and talent, mixed with a bit of technology. Usain is a giant of a man. Is it so impossible for a man that tall to have long powerful strides?
By Dave Thomas. Posted July 12 2009 at 9:30 AM.
Mr. Carl Lewis, when you were running the fast times in your era, did you like the fact that people were saying you must be dirty to be running so fast? Is it because MR. Bolt is not an American why it bothers you so much?
By father pow. Posted July 12 2009 at 5:58 AM.
Carl lewis is one of my top sprinter but after his nasty comments about bolt let me change my mind please (carl ) do some research on Mr bolt since he was a junior if you want to know why this guy run this fast at 200m check his 400m speed in high school, the guy is one of a kind dont be mad just give the caribbean the rating they deserve because if you check some of britian and american athlete they are from the region like: Donovan bailey, Ben jhonson, Keron clement, sanya Richard and the list goes on but thank God our athlete are saying home now so you all running to africa for there distance runners lol
By lerone lawson. Posted July 12 2009 at 5:47 AM.
Well if Carl has been following athletics, he would have realised that Usain Bolt was the best junior sprinter in history. He ran the world 200m junior world record at age 17 when he ran 19.93.
Usain was also the youngest ever world junior champion at age 15.
I don`t remember any of the great sprinters, Tyson Gay, maurice Greene, Bailey, Christie, ever doing what Bolt did as a junior.
Bolt is simply the best ever sprinter, period.
By Gary Morris. Posted July 12 2009 at 4:26 AM.
No one should ever be surprised about the achievements of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. The guy is a hardworking talented, special athlete, who is strong and is in good health.
I am one Jamaican who does not believe in drug cheats; and when such persons are found they should be banned from sports for life.
I am aware that Usain Bolt has never used any form of performance enhancing drugs to boost his performances. Unlike others in other countries who have been drug cheats, this wonderful sprinter extraordinaire has no need to be involved in such practices. He is a natural.
I know that his performances continue to bother many athletes in Track and Field, but I would encourage them to be clean like Bolt and work hard.
Jamaica has a sprint factory which is second to none; and very soon the world will be hearing more names that are going to do well on the international scene.
By George Henry. Posted July 12 2009 at 2:38 AM.
Comment