Carl Lewis - a tarnished legacy?

Carl lewis used to be my favourite athlete..

I still recall being glued to the TV screen watching his monumental battle with Powell in Tokyo.

I was ecstatic when he beat Burrell, Mitchel and Christie to win the 100m

He was like the Roger Federer of the sprints. Elegant, graceful, powerful and sublimely technical, and of course with unparalleled success.

Then, as I got older I learnt more about the drug accusations..

I realised that he'd failed 3 drug tests in '88 prior to the Seoul olympics..

His subsequent explanations over the years have also started to sound more and more defensive and contadictory.

So the question is: Does Lewis have a tarnished legacy? Was he really a squeaky clean athlete as he proclaims? How should Lewis and his achievements be viewed in light of subsequent revelations?



emancipator

Are there no takers on this?

Come on.. someone must have an opinion..

After all, Lewis is considered to be one of the greatest track and field stars of all time.

I thought there were some athletic buffs on here

Maybe the fact that your first post on these boards (at least recently) was rather smug and condescending has led to people just passing over any of your further contributions.

Just saying.

The short answer for me: yes, he is tarnished. Mind you we're getting to the point where there are very few leading sprinters from the past who have nothing on them

Are we allowed to debate with you? Squabbling's more our game .

Has Lewis actually been convicted or is he a name on a list? I don't recall.
What was he actually caught with?

He got caught 3 times and let off. They were all on it pre-90's, but they got caught and were let off all the time.

Things changed in the 90's, they weren't let off so much. Then in the 2000's... well you know the score. Its ok if you keep it hush hush. But if you cross the wrong people, you get caught.

Things were originally put on the banned list, due to them being dangerous to humans. Then they started adding them to the list if they were deemed to give an unfair advantage.

An interesting perspective, would be to ask if it is safe and available to everyone why not allow it?

A bit like a good diet? Or vitamins? Or nutritional supplements? Stimulant drinks?

Some people really take themselves far too seriously

Lewis definitely did fail 3 drug tests in 1988 prior to the olympics. He tested positive for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. He was initially banned by the USOC but they later accepted his explanation that he inadvertantly consumed these substances via the usage of cold medication.

All of this only came out in 2003.

Lewis was an outspoken critic of PED use throughout his career. It's possible that his explanation for the positive tests is an honest one, albeit I find it hard to believe that someone could make the same mistake on three seperate occasions.

Lewis is often mentioned as possibly the greatest track and field athlete of all time. It seems to me as though the athletics establishment is simply ignoring his positive drug results and the impact that this has on his credentials.

I raised this subject because, in all honestly, I haven't followed athletics very closely for the last decade. I wanted to garner current opinion regarding Lewis and his legacy, in light of the 2003 revelations. Were they simply ignored? or was the subject discussed amongst pundits, athletes, fans, aficionados?

Like I stated, I was a huge Lewis fan as a kid; infact he was my first sporting idol. It disturbed me when I learnt about his positive tests; I'm no longer sure as to how I should regard him and his achievements.

I regard him as one of the all time best competitors and athletes to have set foot on the track. It was an awesome time in athletics. Will never forget the duels with Powell or Burrel or even Johnson and Christie.

Florence Griffiths Joyner was very fast.

Yes her world 100m record has survived for 23 years - awsum!!!!!!

I imagine that carl lewis wan't pulled at the time for 2 reasons

1)American with all that suggests in terms of the power of the us olympic committee and his own particular monetary value to us tv
2) He was at the time bigger than the sport itself and his guilt would have extreme remification within the sport,

Oh, wait.....that sounds familiar

He got caught 3 times and let off. They were all on it pre-90's, but they got caught and were let off all the time.

Things changed in the 90's, they weren't let off so much.

So are they allowed to take a certain level of performance enhancers still?

As much as i enjoyed Bolt winning in Beijing, his 200 metre records and his 9.58, I certainly find it hard to say without regret that he is a clean athlete. It's just too 'make believe'.

Bolt could just be a freak of nature.

He is 6ft 5 after all and runs with awful technique.

I recently watched a documentary on Ben Johnson and something very noticeable stood out to me: physique.

Johnson was considered HUGE in terms of muscle mass at his peak in the 80's.

Yet by today's standards he looks pretty average. The likes of Blake, Green, Chambers etc, would all dwarf him.

Sprinting being such an explosive and powerful event obviously requires a large muscular bulk but I'm really amazed by the size of some of these guys. If these guys were in your local gym they would be the biggest by some distance. It makes me seriusly question whether it is all natural.

he doesn't run with awful technique

However he is 2 tenths faster than lewis, and clean - awsum!!!!!!!!!!!

how fast could he run if he was using peds (like lewis allegedly was)!!!!

Clean and miles quicker - awsumm!!!!!!!!!!

come on jamaica!!!!!!

Indeed.. or perhaps tiresumm!!

Bolt doesnt have awful technique, he has a poor start which is not a surprise considering his size. When he is in full flow he executes very well.

In regards to Lewis I think if you are into athletics then you would say yes he is tarnished but I bet most people wouldnt even realise that he was even accused of taking drugs

Thx David, just looks like he's wobbling all over the place; I take that back.

You make a fair point about the general public not knowing anything about his positive tests.

It does seem a little unfair, considering what happened to Johnson and it's repercussions on his life since (not that I'm advocating what he did), that Lewis should get away scot free. Doesn't this just add to the impression that even 15 years on (2003) athletics' was so afraid of upsetting the applecart that Lewis's positive tests were barely mentioned? Or perhaps I'm being overly cynical and it may simply be that Lewis, no longer being in the spotlight, no longer warrants a lot of press coverage.

What is funny about Bolt's 'poor start' is that its sometimes still better than the other sprinters. He can be ahead at 20m mark. It is his size, side to side in the beggining to get the acceleration. You need your feet hammering the floor, and that for someone of his size is the easiest/quickest method for the first 20m.

Once he's at full speed, look at his relaxed composure, hitting the floor every 2.5m. Just on the balls of his feet behind his body centre.

eman

agree with you re Lewis. I used to think he was great as well.
However I then became a Johnson supporter and enjoyed his destruction of CL in Seoul
I think that Johnson, as a result of his perceived threat to CL's worldwide marketability was made a scapegoat after that Nobody else in that final was pulled and yet all but one (in my opinion) was taking. Weren't the all done for ped abuse later in their careers?
Unfortunately I think the Mullings case has a similar feel, an outsider thrown to the wolves for political reasons, to 'prove' that ped cheats are being weeded out.

Drugs were pretty much endemic in many sports until certain governing bodies started to crack down on cheating, sadly what few seem to realise is the simple fact that the more advanced the PED, the less likely it is to show up in any tests anyway, see Marion Jones for proof.

I may be a cynic, I'd like to think I'm just a realist though, but I have my doubts about quite a few of the current greats and unless someone does in depth genetic testing on all athletes to find if their genes are different from everyone else, as has been found for long distance runners from a certain valley in East Africa, I'll continue to think that PEDs are still endemic in certain countries.

really
good post, agree with you -

don't think all current stars are on peds - just most of them

i would love there to be an infallible test, but as long as there is big money in track and field there will always be some willing to take the latest (and therefore currently undetectable) stuff

To be honest if it was a choice between a life of abject poverty and risking my long term health by doing peds and making money, I'd take the latter.... probably.

I have 2 main concerns re ped abuse.
1. Once athletes (in any event or from whatever country} start doing it evrybody else in the similar event must do them to compete. Putting out the message that the only way to compete is drugs. Therefore turning people off the sport.
2. Some of the performances using peds are so crazy that even the lethargic, corrupt iaaf will have to react. Some major star somewhere will be caught, and that's it, game over.

I'm not opposed to any athlete, or any event or any country. Just to cheating and the long term affect it will have on the sport. Surely that's clear enough?

Those are just rumours, 3 drugs ? did you bother to find out what the so called banned drugs where? No! You just heard the word drug and therefore it must be anabolic steroids lol! Go and do you research!

I don't think any members of the Santa Monica Braces Club did any drugs. Especially not ones that make your jaw widen.

KeizoYamata wrote:Those are just rumours, 3 drugs ? did you bother to find out what the so called banned drugs where? No! You just heard the word drug and therefore it must be anabolic steroids lol! Go and do you research!

Not sure if you were referring to my OP.

Anyway I posted this above:

Lewis definitely did fail 3 drug tests in 1988 prior to the olympics. He tested positive for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. He was initially banned by the USOC but they later accepted his explanation that he inadvertantly consumed these substances via the usage of cold medication.

All of this only came out in 2003.

They weren't just rumours. Lewis has since admitted to these failed tests but states that he took the banned stimulants inadvertantly.

emancipator wrote:

KeizoYamata wrote:Those are just rumours, 3 drugs ? did you bother to find out what the so called banned drugs where? No! You just heard the word drug and therefore it must be anabolic steroids lol! Go and do you research!

Not sure if you were referring to my OP.

Anyway I posted this above:

Lewis definitely did fail 3 drug tests in 1988 prior to the olympics. He tested positive for pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine. He was initially banned by the USOC but they later accepted his explanation that he inadvertantly consumed these substances via the usage of cold medication.

All of this only came out in 2003.

They weren't just rumours. Lewis has since admitted to these failed tests but states that he took the banned stimulants inadvertantly.

These are not performance enhancing drugs for sprinters and yes you would see these in any cold medicine you buy. You really have no clue if you think they are like anabolic steroids or EPO. Yes it may have been banned but they are found in everyday medications and it can be easily taken do to carelessness, you cannot same the same thing about Steroids or EPO that 99% of the athletes who have tested positive for.

pseudoephedrine is a masking agent for the steroids he was actually using.

this isn't a matter of conjecture, just true.

are you seriously suggesting lewis was clean?

Carl Lewis was as free of drugs as Amy Winehouse

The problem is finding a clean athlete these days.

In the infamous 100m race in Seoul 1988, something like 5 of the 8 runners were "on something". Ben Johnson was made a scapegoat because his form prior to the final was poor, suddenly come the big day he breaks the world record. Also the fact he wasn't American did him no favours.