Lewis looks forward to Games on home soil
“I’m coaching kids every day that can say, ‘I have a chance to run in the Olympics in my country.’ It’s a long way away, and it’s going to be a tough challenge. ... I just think it will lift the country in all sports.” Nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis, on the Summer Games returning to the USA after a 32-year absence
In the words of Carl Lewis, Los Angeles was “never better” than when it hosted the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Perhaps the signature athlete of those 1984 Games, after he won four gold medals in track and field, Lewis will always have fond memories of what Los Angeles was as an Olympic host.
On Monday, it was announced that Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics for a third time in 2028.
“There was no traffic, there was no smog, everyone was happy and it was absolutely amazing,” said Lewis from Ypsilanti, Mich., where he participated in the opening ceremonies for the AAU Junior Olympics, being held in the Detroit area through Saturday. “I look forward to having that shot again. It’s incredible thinking about how that place was and it is going to be the same again.”
Now an assistant track and field coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston, Lewis, 56, said he hopes to coach in the 2028 Olympics and is excited about being a part of a third Olympics in the USA after competing in 1984 and in 1996 in Atlanta.
Lewis said the chance to compete on home soil will provide motivation for athletes from across the country over the next 11 years.
“I’m coaching kids every day that can say, ‘I have a chance to run in the Olympics in my country,’ ” said Lewis, a nine-time Olympic champion. “It’s a long way away, and it’s going to be a tough challenge. But I think even 21-year-olds have a shot because they will be around 30. The 18year-olds will be fine. Even the 25- or 26-year-olds have a chance.
“I just think it will lift the country in all sports.”
Lewis also hopes having the Olympics return to the USA will give a much needed jolt to the sport of track and field, which he said has continued to be on a steep decline in terms of interest.
“Nothing has really changed,” Lewis said. “It’s just continued to go down. What they have been doing the last 10 or 20 years hasn’t worked because the sport has continued to decline. Maybe we can create opportunities that create a middle class instead of the 1%. That’s kind of what the sport has become, a 1% sport.”
Lewis said not even the success of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has had a big effect on track and field’s popularity.
Lewis happily came to Michi- gan to speak at the opening ceremonies of the AAU Junior Olympics, featuring about 15,000 athletes from across the country, many of whom will compete in track and field.
“My message is that amazing awaits,” Lewis said. “Just focus on being the best you can be.”