Biography of Carl Lewis - Essay Example

Biography of Carl Lewis – a sports and non-sports outlook Introduction: Born Frederick Carlton Lewis, this famous American athlete is famous for two reasons. The first is for his achievements on the field and the second is due to his single minded attitude that performance is based upon physical and mental attributes rather than on performance inducing drugs that is the biggest bane in commercial sports in the world today. This section of the paper looks at the biography of a famous sports person in the Untied States. It will look at this person’s non-sport and sport background, his defining moments, his most famous achievements, why this writer admires him, controversies if any, and why the world admires him as an achiever. Non-sports background: Carl Lewis was not born into a family of sportspersons. But both his parents, William McKinley Lewis Jr. and Evelyn Lawler, were associated with this field in the sense that they were coaches for Willingboro High School in New Jersey (Carl Lewis). What is prophetic is that the lack of money to provide a baby sitter for little Charles prompted the parents to leave the child with his elder sister and school long-jumper Carol. But in spite of his height, he was very thin and malnourished. . As a youngster, his well-wishers and professionals requested his parents to make him active in sporting activities. But a lack of long-term vision with regard to his future led him to take up a series of non-sporting activities. “His education, beyond studies, embraced a lot of fields. He learnt to play musical instruments, to dance, to sing and applied himself to a large variety of sports: football, soccer (he played with his brother Cleveland as a forward!), diving and, obviously, athletics. As he himself tells, he wasnt good at sport. A lot of boys did better at the same age and he was regularly beaten by his sister Carol in the track his parents constructed for them around the garden of their house” (The celebrity portal, 2008). Unfortunately, his direct influence as an idol and achievement in sports is reduced due to his dabbing in B-Grade TV serials and movies like Alien Hunter and Atomic Twister. There appears to be no practical relation between his athletic prowess, his knowledge, influence and his current career as an actor. It is quite obvious that this great athlete has not been able to ‘personally’ influence the younger generation with regard to promotion of sports and athletics. This is obvious from the fact that he had to rely on acting in ordinary movies to keep himself active and busy after retirement from competitive sports. “That old, exhausted line from F Scott Fitzgerald about there being no second acts in American life has been confounded too often. But the question remains: where do you go from being the greatest? How do the greatest deal with being less than great? As Lewiss inspiration, the great sprinter and jumper Jesse Owens, observed of the aftermath of his success: That golden moment dies hard.” (Anthony 2007). It appears that Lewis has to keep himself in the limelight in any field possible even if it is appearance in B-grade movies and serials since the ‘golden movement dies hard’ as observed by Fitzgerald mentioned above. He is seen as being active in fields that is not directly related to spots and athletics in order to be seen as a popular figure in American and International public life. Carl Lewis – sports background: As mentioned earlier, Lewis’s interest in sports began in sports because he was forced to babysit with his elder sister Carol who was a long jumper in college. With regard to his international achievements, Carl “Lewis went from being an awkward teenager to winning ten Olympic gold medals before he retired in 1997 setting numerous world records along the way” (Duncan, 2004, p. 213). Apart from his magical and nearly explosive burst which won him a world record (9.86 seconds) in the World Championship in Tokyo, the following are his other achievements as an athlete. These can be shown as his defining moments in his career as an athlete and a world beater. It should be noted that this particular record was achieved when he was thirty years old. This is an age when most participants in highly competitive sports think of retirement and indulge themselves in other activities like training, endorsement and sponsorships. Defining moments: “Championships 1984 Olympics: Long Jump (1st) 1984 Olympics: 100 m (1st) 1984 Olympics: 200 m (1st) 1984 Olympics: 400 m relay (1st) 1988 Olympics: Long Jump (1st) 1988 Olympics: 100 m (1st) 1988 Olympics: 200 m (2nd) 1992 Olympics: Long Jump (1st) 1992 Olympics: 400 m relay (1st) 1996 Olympics: Long Jump (1st) 1991 World Outdoors: Long Jump - 8.87 m (2nd) 1991 World Outdoors: 100 m - 9.86 (1st)” (USATF, 2010) The above statistics does not do justice to his greatest defining moment in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It should be noted that this event followed a four year old gap between the boycotted Moscow Olympics where Lewis could not take part due to a politically based boycott. “He then won the gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles games in the 100 meter race, 200 meter race, 4 x 100 meters relay, and long jump, matching Jesse Owens’s feat in 1936 (Duncan, 2004, p. 213). Carl Lewis – best known for: There is no doubt that this great athlete is best known for his achievements rather than off it. There is no real big controversy regarding his off-ground behaviours. Other achievers like Ben Johnson and Tiger Woods have become famous (or infamous) due their off ground/off-court behaviours over the years. But Lewis has set an example on the field and exited off it without too much off-ground dramatics. He may be accused of not being a coach for the younger generation, but he has not in any way contributed to corrupting youngsters regarding unethical behaviour on and off the court over the years. Taking this factor into consideration, Lewis is an ideal example of a role model who is grounded in hard-work and ethics. There is no proved controversy or ethics regarding his ethics, personal and professional life so far in spite of his retirement into non-sporting activities like TV serials and films. Who admires this person including this writer? In spite of the above observation by others, Lewis admits that pure association with another achiever is not enough to become a world beater. He forcefully states that his poor economic condition and the fact that he had been forced to be with his elder sister were not the only factors that influence the competitive spirit that made him a world champion. He does admit that genes play a factor here. “I didn’t win those medals because I trained at an altitude, or had to run back and forth to school as a child, or took any of the performance-enhancing drugs or supplements. There are only three things that make a great athlete: good genes, a strong work ethic, and an intelligent, well-crafted training program (Nitti, Nitti & Lewis, 2001, p. vii). This forms this basic philosophy behind the success of Lewis. While many great sportspersons were motivated by money or lack of it as a motivating factor, this great athlete was motivated by the fact that achievement was possible by a combination of genes, work ethic, and effective training. He also firmly believed that his talent was in part a god given gift. In the case of Carl Lewis, it was not poverty or parental pressure that motivated him to achieve greatness in his activity of sports. It was a belief that greatness is an end result of ambition, hard word, self-belief and finally the feeling that each individual had control over his or her own destiny. Another admirable aspect to this great personality is the contribution made by his teammates. He credits his achievement in the 100 metres dash record to his teammate Leroy Burrell who inspired him to beat the record set by him (9.90 seconds) in the New York National Championships (Jet Magazine, 1991, p. 51). . Another aspect that can be admired and emulated is that he had to miss the 1980 Olympics Games in Moscow due to politically motivated reasons in Moscow. One can imagine the mental agony that any athlete faces when such a situation arises due to reasons others for not participating due to his or her own personal reasons. As mentioned above, the next Olympic Games saw the best performance among any athlete in the Untied States. The four year time gap did nothing to decrease his motivation or stamina as can be seen from his achievements in equating with his Jesse Owens nearly fifty years ago. Lewis had the capability to amaze people with his talent according to sports writer Larry Schwartz of ESPN. According to him, Lewis is one of the greatest US athletes in history (Schwartz, 2007). These observations are enough to prove the admiration that other (including this writer) has about this great athlete. He was involved a many charity organizations like Sports psychology concepts with regard to Carl Lewis Any major competitive activity including sports involves certain steps that are a prerequisite to success in this field. The steps involve setting of motivation, and goal setting. According to Lewis, goals involve does not involve performance of others, but is more focused on improving individual performance (Martens, 1987, p. 159). Carl was motivated by his meeting with the legendary Jesse Owens who was a friend of his father. Carl then formed an image of emulating Owens which formed the basis of his motivation (Alderman, 2004, p. 138). Once motivation and goal setting is in place, the next step is hard work and proper training. This has been stated by Lewis’s own words in the previous section. It can be said that Carl Lewis is one of the greatest sportsperson, the United States has ever seen. He was not involved in any major on or off the field controversies. He was motivated to perform due to performances of other greats like Jesse Owens. Lewis can be a role model for youngsters who want to create a mark in their life in any field due to his own philosophy, hard word and achievements. References Alderman, MK 2004, Motivation for achievement: possibilities for teaching and learning, Routledge Anthony, A 2007, Speed: the sequel, Guardian UK, viewed 17 January 2010, Carl Lewis, iloveindia.com, viewed 17 January 2010, Duncan, J 2004, Sport in American culture: from Ali to X-games, ABC-CLIO Nitti, J. Nitti, K. & Lewis, C 2001, The interval training workout: Build muscle and burn fat with anaerobic exercise, Hunter House Jet Magazine 1991, Carl Lewis regains title as the world’s fastest human with 9.86 dash in Tokyo, Jetson Publishing Company Martens, R 1987, Coaches guide to sports psychology, Human Kinetics Schwartz 2007, King Carl had long golden reign, ESPN.com, viewed 17 January 2010, The celebrity portal, Biggeststars.com, viewed 17 January 2010, USATF, Hall of fame, USA Track & Field, viewed 17 January 2010, Read More