August 11, 1984

Birmingham native Carl Lewis won his fourth gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, tying the record set by Alabamian Jesse Owens in 1936. Lewis won the same four events as Owens – the 100 meters, 200 meters, the long jump and the 4 x 100-meter relay – and was the first Olympian to win four gold medals since 1936. He eventually won a total of nine gold medals in a career that lasted through the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 1999, he was voted Best Olympian of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated. Lewis was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Birmingham native and nine-time Olympic gold medal winner Carl Lewis is pictured during his days as a track and field star at the University of Houston, ca. 1980. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. UH Digital Library)

Carl Lewis in midair during a long jump for track and field as an athlete at the University of Houston. (University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, University of Houston, Wikipedia).

Carl Lewis at the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles, CA. (University of Houston Libraries Special Collections, University of Houston, KUHT, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.