On August 6, 1984, American Carl Lewis won this Olympic gold medal for his victory in the long jump. Two days earlier, Lewis won gold in the 100m race, and these two victories set him on a path to match Jesse Owens’ record four gold track and field medals earned at a single Olympic Games. The track and field events were held in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, also the site of the opening and closing events of the 1984 Summer Olympics, considered one of the most financially successful Olympics of recent decades.

During his career, Lewis ammased nine Olympic gold medals, and one silver medal. In 1999, the International Olympic Committee chose Carl Lewis as the “Sportsman of the Century,” and in 2000, Sports Illustrated named him“Olympian of the Century.”

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1961, Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis grew up in a family committed to athletics. Lewis’ mother competed as a hurdler in the 1951 Pan-Am Games, and both she and his father coached the future Olympian while he grew up in New Jersey. Carl began competing in the long jump at age thirteen, and by the time he graduated high school, he had set national records in the event.

Between 1980 and 1984, Lewis rose steadily in the world track and field rankings and qualified for four track and field events at the 1984 Olympics. Because of this, some commentators began referring to the competition as the “Carl Lewis Games.”

In 2013, Lewis donated this medal and other items to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Medal and image above are now in the collection of theSmithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visitors to the museum can view these objects in the “Sports: Leveling the Playing Field” exhibition.

Credits and Sources:

2013.126.11 - Framed color photograph of the1984 Summer Olympics Men's 100M finish line, 1984. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Carl Lewis Estate.

2013.126.12 - 1984 Olympic Gold Medal for Men's Long Jump awarded to Carl Lewis, 1984. Issued by: International Olympic Committee. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Carl Lewis Estate, © International Olympic Committee.

"Carl Lewis." USATF - Hall of Fame. Accessed January 7, 2016. http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=96.  

Gleason, David. "Carl Lewis." Track and Field News, December 1, 1980, 50-51.

"Janice Berte Carl Lewis Interview." Janice Berte Carl Lewis Interview. June 3, 2015. Accessed January 7, 2016. http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/category-about/2484-janice-berte-carl-lewis-interview