Olympic monitor and area star Carl Lewis opens up concerning the “put on and tear” his profession had on his psyche and on his private life in a brand new documentary.
The ten-time Olympic medal winner, 63, reveals in I’m Carl Lewis that he’s by no means been in a long-term relationship as a result of he feared it might have an effect on his skilled aspirations. The documentary, premiering at SXSW and screening on the competition March 7, 9 and 12, was directed by Julie Anderson and Chris Hay.
“I’ve by no means had actually a personal grownup life, and I haven’t actually had an in-depth, long-term relationship to this present day. I believed that it might damage my profession,” he says. “I’m positive I’ve met 50 people who have been unimaginable in my lifetime. However due to that, I needed to shun them away. And I do know that on the skin, it may be form of unhappy, and I can perceive that, however that’s simply the best way it’s.”
Between 1984 and 1996, Lewis twice helped the U.S. win gold within the males’s 4x100m and picked up 9 Olympic gold medals, making him one among solely 4 athletes to take action. (He additionally gained a silver medal in Seoul in 1988.) Regardless of his athletic prowess, Lewis was usually portrayed negatively within the media.
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After breaking out as a star within the 1984 Los Angeles Summer time Olympics, the place he gained 4 gold medals, he was criticized as conceited and for brazenly searching for monetary compensation as an newbie athlete. He additional stirred the pot by embracing his female aspect, each on and off the sphere.
Lewis’ current insights into his private life comply with a long time of rumors about his sexuality, which he says “have been simply nonstop my complete profession.”
Forward of his ultimate Olympic run in Atlanta in 1996, Lewis says, he knew he would make headlines when he agreed to put on pink stilettos whereas posing in a runner’s stance for a 1994 Pirelli ad that was photographed by Annie Leibovitz.
The picture, which he says “seems to be unimaginable,” led some to “go after the entire homosexual factor.” However, Lewis provides, he wasn’t affected on the time as a result of he thought, “I’m in an unimaginable area in life.”
“I hope it empowered everybody,” he continues. “The extra I give it some thought, the prouder I’m.”
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Within the documentary, Lewis notes that the 1988 Summer time Olympics in Seoul, the place Ben Johnson beat him within the 100-meter sprint however was later disqualified for drug use, was a very troublesome time for him mentally. He remembers later receiving a “wrinkled” medal “beneath the stadium,” including, “It felt like they pulled it out of [Johnson’s] hand.”
“After the Olympic Video games in ’88, I used to be worn out,” he says. “It did go away loads of put on and tear on me emotionally. I didn’t actually get my complete mojo again for some time as a result of I used to be simply beat down from that have.”
“Mentally, I began to query all the things. It was like, ‘What was the purpose?’ ” he continues. “Observe and area dominated each facet of my life, and all the things else was secondary.”
