Posted on 02/10/2015 da Andrea Benatti in USA Athletics, News // No commentWe have freely adapted and translated an article by Richard Moore for Athletics Weekely (here the link to the original article) in which he talks about Carl Lewis off the slopes and after his retirement until today.For a man who graced the tracks with such elegance, style and such seemingly easy brilliance for most of two decades, Carl Lewis seems to have stumbled from one unfortunate project to another by the time he retired from athletics.The nine-time Olympic champion, named World Athlete of the Century (for the IAAF) and Olympian of the Century (for Sport Illustrated) has tried both to be a singer and to act and, euphemistically speaking, has always received mixed reviews.More recently he tried his hand at a (failed) attempt to enter politics, until, at the end of last year, he returned to the mainland, that is, assuming full-time (but unpaid) the role of coach at his old university, Houston University.It is painful at times to watch Carl Lewis' post-athletic career.There always seems to have been a gap between the perception he had of himself and that of others, particularly in his native United States.The example was made clear before the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, when his manager, Joe Douglas, predicted not only that Lewis would dominate in athletics, but that his fame would rival that of Michael Jackson.Well, despite Lewis winning those four Olympic gold medals, the public image of him stuck in the blocks.For those of us who watched from Europe, it has always been strange to realize how peripheral Lewis was in his home country of USA.It made no sense in Europe, where Lewis was the Michael Jackson of athletics.He was a handsome runner: tall, graceful and glamorous, and he was the first professional athlete or at least, the first to talk openly about how much money he made.Ironic, then, that even after emulating the exploits of Jesse Owens, winning four gold medals in Los Angeles, the big brands were not interested in him.Lewis indeed accused massive doses of "negative publicity".A long monograph about him that appeared in Sports Illustrated on the eve of the Games was particularly damaging in this regard.There was indeed speculation about his sexuality, which in the conservative 1980s probably discouraged many potential sponsors.Sports Illustrated article writer Gary Smith had another theory, he revealed to me during the writing of my book, The Race Dirtiest in: “It wasn't sexual ambiguity that bothered Americans.But I think it was more a mere question of calculation “.Meanwhile, Lewis' Houston coach Tom Tellez argued that it all hinged on the fact "that he was progressive ... That was the problem ... he was way ahead of everyone else".His rivals complained that Lewis presented himself with an air of superiority.His US teammate, Calvin Smith described him as arrogant and aloof.Ben Johnson, who beat him in Seoul 1988 before testing positive, hated him.And the feeling was reciprocated.Despite all of this, it was easy to imagine that Lewis would easily retire and then thrive out of athletics after winning his ninth Olympic gold medal in long jump at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He was elegant, smart, a good speaker. , a natural propensity to play a role in the media, one would have thought.After launching his singing career when he was still competing (the 1985 album "wasn't bad," he claimed, "it just wasn't good"), acting became his priority.He appeared in a TV series and six films but the 2007 “Tournament of Dreams” seems to have put the credits to his relationship with cinema.There was also the revelation, made known in 2003, that he had tested positive for small traces of stimulants before the 1988 Olympics. He was not found positive at the time, but the news ruffled his perfectly clean image of him.As it happens a week later he crashed his car into a wall.His blood alcohol level was over the limit and he was sentenced to "probation" with 200 hours in three years of community service with the arrangement to associate with Alcoholics Anonymous.In 2011 Lewis announced that he was running as a Democrat for the Senate in the state of New Jersey.But he was forced to retire after Republicans complained that he did not meet residency requirements: even though he was actually born in New Jersey, he had spent more time in California.More recently, Lewis admitted to his local Houston paper that his attempt to get into politics arose because he was "bored," adding that the people of New Jersey "love to complain, but they don't like to do anything to solve problems. problems".He said, "I'd like to try to do something."Last year he answered a call from his old teammate and friend Leroy Burrell to coach at the University of Houston.But he had trouble initially with his new role, because he didn't know what to say to athletes who had a fraction of his infinite talent."Now I know what they want to hear is the truth," says Lewis.“I tell the guys that I have won nine gold medals.That I was the Olympian of the century.I don't take a cent to train for this university.I don't need anything from them, but I want them to win and I want them to do it for UH (University of Houston), I want it for them and I want it for their families. "He now lives near the Houston campus alongside his mother, Evelyn, and his remains an important voice.She was instrumental in this sport, also claiming that the stars of the old days are missing."I retired in 1997 and the sport has been in steady decline ever since," he said recently.“I was one of those, with Sergey Bubka and Sebastian Coe, who set a model of what the sport was.I think sometimes you have to look back to move forward ”.Copyright © 2022 |Gamefox News All rights reserved |VAT number 02239830223