100 metres, Men

In 1983 there was finally a World Championship in athletics. At Helsinki, the Americans had swept the medals with Carl Lewis winning gold and Calvin Smith silver, although Smith won the 200. Lewis was an enormous talent who had made the 1980 Olympic team in the long jump, and in Los Angeles he made plans to duplicate Jesse Owens’ feat of winning four gold medals in the sprints, long jump, and sprint relay. With the Olympics in the United States, the media interest in this attempt was enormous, but Lewis was actually a solid favorite in all three individual events, and only a dropped baton or bad pass could hamper him in the relay. The 100 was his first event, and he came thru the rounds easily to the final on 4 August. There he faced his teammates, Sam Graddy and Ron Brown, and the Canadian, Ben Johnson. But Lewis was unstoppable, winning the race by 0.20 seconds, the easiest victory since Bob Hayes in 1964. The next day, Lewis competed in the long jump qualifying and he would eventually repeat Owens’ achievement by winning all four gold medals.