If anyone can inspire the younger generation to get more active, it’s 10-time American Olympic medallist Carl Lewis.
The record-breaking sprinter and long jumper had a glittering athletics career spanning 1979 to 1996, and is often considered to be the greatest track and field athlete of all time.
“Nothing could top the 1984 Olympics – that was amazing,” says Lewis. That was the year he entered four events and won gold in all of them. When his father and coach, William McKinley Lewis Jr, died in 1987, Lewis placed the gold medal he won for the 100 metres in 1984 in his hand to be buried with him. “Don’t worry,” he told his mother. “I’ll get another one.”
And he did – in fact, so many that sometimes it’s hard to recall the numbers. “Between the World Championships and the Olympic Games, I was in 20 finals – 17 golds, a silver and a bronze – wait, two silvers? Anyway, I know it was 17 golds. So a lot of great memories.”
But the road to sporting success involved plenty of sacrifices for Lewis. “Summer vacations, we were always on the track,” he recalls of his childhood in New Jersey. “I didn’t go on the senior class trips, I got to the prom two hours late, and for graduation, I was at a track meet. I missed all the parties.”
But, these days, Lewis says he’s the one throwing the parties. “I tell kids, you’re going to be old for a lot longer than you’re young, so you have to do what you need to now, to make all that time when you’re old much better.”
Lewis says that skipping parties was his idea (somewhat unusually for a teenager), not his parents’.
“They never said don’t go. I just knew I had to get up the next day and I wanted to be the best I could be. By the time I was 17, I had an A plan and no B plan. I knew I was going to be a millionaire who is known worldwide, and because of that goal, every single day was important.”
At the age of 19, Lewis set his first world record by jumping 8.50 metres. But that wasn’t enough. “I wanted to jump 8.90. It was still just along the way to my goal.”
These days, Lewis coaches aspiring athletes to set lifetime goals as he did.
“I tell them, imagine we bump into each other 20 years from now. What will you tell me that you’ve accomplished? Sometimes they’re scared to say it. I tell them to take a minute – I’ll go to the restroom while they work it out.”
He also recommends making goals technical, not emotional. “Success is not emotional until you cross the line,” he says. “I never thought: ‘Gosh, I hope I win today.’ I’d say: ‘I’m ready to run 9.93 in the 100 metres today.’
“In the Olympics, it worked nine out of 10 times. You need to focus on what you can control.”
Lewis admits that parents today might have more of an uphill struggle encouraging children to be active than when he was young, especially with the lure of technology.
“E-sports are fun, but I don’t think it’s a good way to inspire kids to get more active. We have to tell kids: ‘Here’s your video-games hour, now do something outside.’”
It’s been 19 years since Lewis last ran competitively, and these days cycling is his preferred sport. But staying in shape is still a top priority.
“Sport is like music – when you hear a song from 20 years ago, it takes you back to that moment. When I walk into a room, people remember the moment they saw me win gold,” he says.
“It’s important that I’m still part of that story, instead of being the guy who lost it.”
