Only a Tick Away from L.A.

By J.D. Reed

Track Star Carl Lewis takes aim at four Olympic gold medals

With 50 meters left to go at the USA/Mobil Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, Carl Lewis glanced over his shoulder. The view was sweet. He was demolishing an Olympic-caliber field in the 200-meter sprint, and he was doing it at a world-record pace. Then, a wide smile cracking his chiseled features, Lewis tossed away the record by throwing his arms into the muggy night air ten yards before the finish. The crowd of nearly 11,000 roared in delight at the gesture.

That cavalier action, in a world where reputations (and Olympic berths) hang on millimeters and hundredths of seconds, was perfectly in character. For by winning the 200, record or not, Lewis became the first American in nearly a century to gather three titles at a national outdoor championship.* The rare triple is roughly equivalent to a major league pitcher's chalking up a 1.50 ERA, winning 20 games and batting .350. Other sprinters have been superlative long jumpers, but Lewis is in a class by himself (he owns the indoor mark of 28 ft. 1 in.). At Indianapolis he made the second farthest outdoor long jump in history: 28 ft. 10 1/4 in., just 4 1/4 in. shy of the record.

Two hours later, Lewis proceeded to clock 19.75 sec. in the 200, missing the record held by Italy's Pietro Mennea by a slim .03 sec. The day before, his 10.27 time won the 100 meters (his best is 9.96 sec., .01 off Jim Hines' world mark). The University of Houston senior shrugged off his Indianapolis performances. "I don't worry about times and records. I'm my own competition," he said. "And I think there are going to be some absolutely unheard-of things coming from me."

The words echo Ali's youthful braggadocio; the prediction seems merely reasonable. Lewis, who turns 22 this week, possesses powers far from their peak. But he may already be the premier track and field athlete of his generation--the modern equivalent of his idol, Jesse Owens. Last year Lewis jumped nearly 30 ft., but fouled by an undetectable whisker. Meanwhile, track watchers are already muttering about a 9-sec. 100.

The impossible has intrigued Lewis since boyhood. Back in 1968, when Carl was seven, Bob Beamon of New York City leaped a record 29 ft. 2 1/2 in. in the Mexico City Olympics, almost two feet farther than anyone else had ever managed. But when Lewis was ten, he marked off the distance in his Willingboro, N.J., front yard and thought about being the best in the world. Challenging records was a family tradition. His parents were both collegiate stars, who formed their own track and field club in 1969 and coach at competing high schools. His sister Carol, 19, is also a ranking long-jumper. Both she and Carl were set for the U.S.-boycotted 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

A few months earlier, University of Houston Head Coach Tommy Tellez had changed Lewis' approach style. Using his extraordinary 8-ft. stride and ability to hit 22 m.p.h., Lewis now starts a precisely measured 167 ft. 6 in. behind the takeoff board, farther than any competitor. Forward velocity--not height--makes for distance, believes Tellez, and Lewis defies gravity by continuing to run almost straight off into the air, pedaling furiously for balance, not unlike Wile E. Coyote going off a cliff in a Road Runner cartoon. "It's my best attribute," he says. "In basketball I could hang up there and triple pump." As a sprinter, he also has uncanny staying power. "Everybody," he says, "decelerates from about 60 meters to the finish line--everybody." But Lewis, relaxed and controlled, decelerates least and inexorably pulls ahead.

Away from the track, Lewis remains obsessed by speed. He once drove his sleek black Audi 5000 from Houston to Fort Worth at speeds approaching 125 m.p.h. "I can't stand someone in front of me on the track," says the speeder, "and I can't stand someone in front of me on the freeway." Compactly muscular at 6 ft. 2 in. and 175 lbs., Lewis now competes for the Santa Monica Track Club, since he was declared scholastically ineligible at Houston last year. But he is finishing his degree in broadcasting and, on the side, restoring a suburban Victorian house. Last summer, while competing in Europe, instead of making forays to discos with teammates, Lewis read Good Housekeeping and shopped for crystal.

This summer he will have a chance for more shopping. Lewis will compete at the World University Games in Canada in July, and in August he goes to the first official World Championships in Finland. Records could fall anywhere along the way. "I'm four inches away in the long jump," he says coolly, "one tick from the world record in the 100 and three ticks in the 200. They're all within reach, I think."

Next, he is eyeing a quadruple crown. After all, Jesse Owens took four firsts in Berlin. At the U.S.-East Germany dual meet in Los Angeles last Saturday, Lewis ran the anchor leg in the winning 4x100 meter relay. It was a promising start toward a fourth gold medal and still another reason why some call him the world's greatest athlete. "It's something I cherish," he says of the accolade. "I've worked hard for it. I mean, nothing was just given to me."

--By J.D. Reed.

Reported by Lee Griggs/Chicago

* Malcolm Ford won the same three in 1895 and 1896.

With reporting by Lee Griggs This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.