CARL LEWIS

Carl Lewis is in his ninth season at the University of Houston and first as Head Coach of the Track and Field program.

Lewis is known as one of the greatest athletes in the world winning 10 Olympic medals, nine of those gold, and 10 world championship medals.

He still holds the school records for the indoor 55-meter dash (6.07) and both indoor and outdoor long jump records 8.56m (28’-1”) and 8.62m (28’-3.5”). A six-time All-American, Lewis won six national championships and nine individual conference championships during his two seasons at Houston.

During the 2019-20 season the Cougars sprinters made big strides, helping the Cougars sweep The American Indoor Track & Field Championships for the second consecutive season. The Houston Cougars were on pace to have yet another outstanding outdoor season before competition was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cougars continued to have success in the sprints during both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons at the Cougars claimed their second straight NCAA title in the 4x100-meter relay and earned back-to-back third-place finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships anchored by strong performances in the sprints and relays.

Lewis played a key role in the Cougars 2017 Men's 4x100-meter Relay NCAA Championships. Working with the sprinters, Lewis' team of John Lewis III, Mario Burke, Jacarias Martin and Cameron Burrell ran 38.44 to break the school record and claim the gold medals. Lewis' athletes in the sprints and jumps claimed nine individual American Athletic Conference Championships in 2017, while Burrell finished as the runner up at each of the indoor 60-meter dash and outdoor 100-meter dash national championships.

In his first two seasons, Lewis helped lead the Cougars to nine individual American Athletic Conference Championships and NCAA runner-up finished in the 60-meter dash and the 4x100-meter relay in 2016.

Lewis came to Houston to run for head coach Tom Tellez in 1979. A year later, he appeared on the national scene when he qualified for the United States team for the 1980 Olympics in the long jump and 4x100 relay team. Since then, he competed in four Olympic Games as a member of team USA.

He held the world record in the men’s 100-meter dash in 1991, until Burrell broke the record in 1994. The two were also a part of the US 4x100 relay team that broke the world record during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Carl Lewis’ achievements are unprecedented in track and field: He is one of two athletes to win nine Olympic gold medals. Similarly, he is one of two to win four golds in the same event. He also won 10 medals, including eight golds, at the World Outdoor Championships, the most by any athlete in the world. Growing up in Willingboro, N.J., Lewis came from an athletic family, and yet he blossomed late in his high school career.

The following year, as a freshman at the University of Houston, he qualified for the Olympic team in the long jump. Because of the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics, Lewis had to wait four years for his Olympic glory.

By 1984, he had already ranked number one in the world in both the 100 meters and long jump for three consecutive years. In Los Angeles, he matched Jesse Owens’ 1936 feat with four gold medals in the same events -- the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay. Lewis’ talent was matched by his longevity. At the 1988 Olympics, he won the 100 meters and long jump. In 1992, he again won the long jump as well as the 4x100m, anchoring the U.S. team to a world record of 37.40.

In 1996, in his final Olympics, Lewis had a dramatic farewell, winning his fourth-consecutive gold medal in the long jump. At age 30, he had one of his greatest achievements, breaking the world 100m record with a time of 9.86 while winning the event at the 1991 World Championships. At that same meet, he had one of his greatest disappointments, losing his long jump streak of 65 consecutive victories to Mike Powell. It was an occasion on which Lewis recorded his longest jump ever -- 29’ 1 1/4” -- while Powell was breaking Bob Beamon’s legendary record with a jump of 29’ 4 1/2”.