Hurling his eighty kilogram body eight-and-half metres during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games secured Carl Lewis a record-equaling ninth Olympic gold medal. Becoming only the third person to win an event at four consecutive games, the American farewelled his final Olympics amid the roar of eighty-thousand fans as he ran a victory lap around the stadium.

Since his first Olympic Games in 1984, Lewis has left an indelible mark upon the sporting world. Despite his future glories, he was not always the best. Born into an athletic family in Birmingham, Alabama, Carl began sprinting at seven and long jumping at thirteen.

`I was little, scrawny and not very fast,' he says. `I was looked down upon quite a bit. I'll never forget the soccer coach who told me after the first season that I would never be anything. I was a disgrace, a nobody and never would be good at anything in athletics or as a person - or anything else in life. I was fifteen at the time and this coach was someone I admired very much. But I think that I took his comment in a positive way. I could have had a temper tantrum, but I thanked him and said, "Now I have one person's opinion." Yet although I always had faith in what I could do, I had so many injury problems that my sister, Carol, used to beat me in races in junior high school!'

Although beaten by his sister in junior high, he began to develop as he got older, his abilities being fully recognised in his last year of high school when he jumped just over 8.12 metres to rank fifth in the world. `I have tremendous respect for my parents,' Carl adds. `They taught me to believe in personal goals and to try hard to achieve those goals. The goals I set might not have been as high as other athletes but, once I attained them, I felt as good as anybody else that won. In fact, I became one of the best athletes my high school ever produced.'

At the 1980 Olympic trials, Lewis made the United States squad in the long jump and also finished fourth in the 100m, taking his place in the 4x100m team. Unfortunately, the Olympic team went nowhere that summer due to the US boycott of the Moscow Games.

During his four year wait for another shot at Olympic glory, Carl excelled as a athlete. In 1981, he rose to number one in the world in both the 100m and long jump, a position which he held for the following five years. Two years later at the World Championships, he seized gold in the 100m, 4x100m and the long jump. The previous year at the 1982 National Sports Festival, Lewis jumped what many people believe was the greatest jump of all time - soaring over nine metres through the air. However, the jump was erroneously called a foul and as such was raked over without being measured. That same year Lewis also jumped a narrow foul of 9.14m.

After rising to the top of world athletics, Lewis easily secured a spot in the American squad for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Over eight days in August that year, he wrote his name beside his home town hero, Jessie Owens, by winning the 100m, 200m, 4x100m and long jump.

`In the 1984 Olympics,' the champion remembers, `I saw the realisation of a dream. To win four gold medals and equal Jessie Owens' record was an honour. Many people did not understand why I stopped competing in the long jump after my first jump. I knew that the jump would probably win the competition and, instead of going for Bob Beamon's record, I decided to rest and save my strength for the other events that I would have to face in the coming days.'

Carl's decision proved to be right as over the following days he ran 19.80s for the 200m, and contributed to the 37.83s winning time for the 4x100m. Adding these to his 9.99s in the 100m, and 8.54m in the long jump, Lewis had had a good Olympiad. Looking back on the events of 1984, Carl says, `In 1984 in Los Angeles, I was blessed by having the strength of Jesus to compete in four events and win four gold medals, something only one other man, Jesse Owens, had accomplished. When I look back to that Olympics, I feel good about it because, throughout my career, I've gone through a lot of different situations. But the Lord has enabled me to have the confidence, the strength and the drive to be the best.'

Four years later, Lewis again found himself crouching at the blocks in an Olympic 100m final, this time in Seoul. At his father's funeral the previous year, Carl had buried his 1984 100m gold medal in his father's hands. `Don't worry,' he told his mother, `I'll get another one.'

The 9.79 seconds that followed were the start of one of the most controversial moments in recent Olympic history. The 100m final was billed as a showdown between the two fasted men alive: American Carl Lewis and Canadian Ben Johnson. As the starter's pistol fired, the competitors launched themselves down the track. After 9.92s, it was all over for Lewis. He had finished second to Johnson's unbelievable time despite running a personal best. `I ran the best I could and I'm pleased with the race,' a disappointed Lewis told the media. He had been unable to replace the gold medal buried with this father, but later said, `I didn't have the medal, but I could still give to my father by acting with class and dignity.'

Three days later, however, Lewis and the world heard the news that Ben Johnson had tested positive for the use of the banned steroid, stanozolol. The Canadian was stripped of his medal and world record, and the gold was awarded to his rival. Johnson's previous world record mark of 9.83s, from the 1987 World Championships in Rome, was also later disallowed, making Lewis' 9.92s the new world record.

Happy to have the mess of the 100m behind him, the American jumped 8.72m to add the long jump gold medal to his haul. The rest of the week didn't go according to his plans or most people's expectations, however. In the 200m final, Carl was fairly beaten by training partner Joe DeLoach and in the 4x100m relay Lewis didn't even see the baton as the US team were disqualified in the heats after an incorrect change. Two gold and a silver would be a dream for most Olympians, but for this king of the track it was a disappointing Olympics. Twelve years after making his first Olympic squad, Carl's career was starting to enter its twilight, qualifying for only the long jump and the 4x100m relay at Barcelona. He made the most of his opportunities, however, clinching the gold in both, with an 8.67m leap in the long jump and a world record 37.40s in the relay.

Over the following years until the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Carl began to fall away from being number one in each of his events except for long jump. At these, his last games, Lewis again wove his magic and picked up his ninth Olympic gold. Looking back over his athletics career which spanned nearly two decades, Carl reflects, 'I've spent the greater part of my life in the world of sport. It's been a fantastic time, and I'll always be grateful for everything it's given me. The results have been ten Olympic medals in four different events; eight gold in four different World Championships; seven world records and 65 consecutive longjump victories between 1981 and 1991. I'm happy with that.' 'I know that God has allowed me to be fast,' he humbly adds, 'but I think that there are hundreds of people walking the streets who can run as fast as I do. I am just trying to use the God-given talent to the best of my ability. So many millions of people have so many different talents. Mine just happens to be running fast and jumping far.' 'Knowing I have the Lord within me, I feel that there is no greater strength that I could have going into a competition. When I run, I feel the pleasure. When I'm competing, I have peace of mind. I feel like there is nothing else in the world at that time. I seek the Lord's help in even the simplest of things.'

Over Lewis' long career, he has had some amazing experiences, but none of these impacted on his life as much as something that happened back in June 1981. ‘I was at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when a close friend of mine, Willie Gault, invited me to a chapel service.’

‘When I sat down in the hotel meeting room, I thought that I was a Christian. After all, my parents had taken me to church all my life and I was an American! I, like so many people, didn't understand what being a Christian really meant. Willie's friend, Sam Mings, talked about the love of Jesus for man. He shared how Jesus had come to earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross and rose again. Sam told how we needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything he shared seemed to fit in with what I believed, yet I knew that something in my life wasn't quite right.’

‘That afternoon, I won the long jump competition and went back for the next chapel service. At that meeting, the Spirit of the Lord convicted me when Sam asked, ` Have you invited Jesus Christ into your life? Has he changed your life? If you were to die today, are you sure that you would go to heaven?' I knew then that I really was not a Christian and I needed to get right with the Lord.’

‘To inherit the kingdom of God, it didn’t matter that I had accomplished a feat that day only accomplished once before, and that by the legendary Jessie Owens (winning the long jump and 100m). I had to do as everyone must do: avail myself of what Jesus Christ’s death on the cross made possible; salvation for anyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ.’

‘There was nothing I could do to make it on my works alone. Jesus paid mine and everyone’s sin debt in full. I only needed to repent and receive his grace.’ ‘I chose that day that my god was not to be Olympic gold medals or the plaudits of man. My greatest race was stepping out in child-like faith, believing that God would do just as his word said he would do. I thank him every day for forgiving my sins and granting me not what I deserved, but rather his grace.’

‘Though I’m known as a sprinter, I am now involved in the most exciting, never-ending marathon: the pilgrimage of my personal relationship with King Jesus.’ Carl' s athletic career has finished, but that doesn' t mean that his association with the Olympics has. As the Games descend upon Sydney in September 2000, Lewis will again be there, but this time as the co-chairman of athletes involvement for ` Reach-out 2000 Sydney Australia' . This time he won' t be striving for gold, but for something worth far more as he helps share the love that Christ has for people.

Carl is a member of the Lay Witnesses for Christ International' s Board of Directors and loves taking the opportunity to share with others what Christ has done for him and also what an impact he can have upon their lives.

Lewis' life has now moved into a new stage, but he is not daunted with what lies ahead. As he says, ` I know without a doubt that whatever I face, God will allow me to go through only what I can handle with his help.'

Article courtesy of Peter Furst