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60 free Carl Lewis trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Carl Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals, matched Jesse Owens, held the 100 metres world record and went 65 long-jump competitions unbeaten across a decade, and somehow spent much of that time being booed. This quiz covers the whole career and the odd life around it. The easy questions ask how many golds he won, which Games saw his four-medal sweep, who beat him in Seoul before losing the medal, and which two events he ruled. From there it moves into the details: his mother the hurdler, Willingboro High, the coach who stayed with him for eighteen years, the 1980 boycott and its Congressional medal, the altitude asterisk he refused, and the first sub-10 at sea level. The harder end is for track nuts: the single 8.54 jump and passed attempts in Los Angeles, the Michael Jackson comparison that sank his endorsements, the 208th pick of the 1984 NBA draft, the 9.83 that became a 9.93, the wind-aided 9.78 at the trials, the six-man sub-10 final in Tokyo, the 8.91 that beat Beamon but did not count, Mike Powell's 8.95, the 8.85-second anchor leg in Barcelona, the 1996 relay row, the three positive stimulant tests, the vegan diet, the New Jersey Senate bid and the head coaching job in Houston. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on Lewis and his championships, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Summer Olympics, Usain Bolt and track and field quizzes next.
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Q 01How many Olympic gold medals did Carl Lewis win?
9
He added one silver, in the 200 m at Seoul, and eight World Championship golds.
Q 02How many World Championships medals did Lewis win in his career?
10
Eight of them were gold; he ruled the 100 m, 200 m and long jump rankings through the 1980s.
Q 03How many consecutive long-jump competitions did Lewis win over ten years?
65
It is one of the longest undefeated streaks in the sport.
Q 04In which city was Lewis born on July 1, 1961?
Birmingham, Alabama
His mother Evelyn had been a hurdler on the 1951 Pan-Am team.
Q 05Which sister of Lewis took long-jump bronze at the 1983 World Championships?
Carol
Their parents ran a local athletics club; brother Cleveland played pro soccer.
Q 06Who coached Lewis at university and then for the rest of his career?
Tom Tellez
Lewis is now head track and field coach at that same university.
Q 07Why did Lewis miss the 1980 Olympics after qualifying in two events?
The US boycott of Moscow
He competed instead at the Liberty Bell Classic and got one of 461 special Congressional Gold Medals.
Q 08What did Lewis refuse to have appended to his records, so he skipped meets in thin air?
An '(A)' for altitude
All the existing sprint and long-jump records had been set in Mexico City's thin air.
Q 09Which honour for America's top amateur athlete did Lewis win in 1981?
Sullivan Award
That year he first ranked number one in the world in both the 100 m and long jump.
Q 10Whose 1968 long-jump record of 8.90 m did Lewis chase throughout his career?
Bob Beamon
Beamon appeared in a TV ad before the 1984 final saying, 'I hope you make it, kid.'
Q 11With what time in 1983 did Lewis become the first man under 10 seconds at sea level?
9.97 s
He did it in Modesto on May 14, the year of the first World Championships.
Q 12Where were the first IAAF World Championships held in 1983, where Lewis won three golds?
Helsinki
He took the 100 m, long jump and 4 x 100 m relay, the last in a world-record 37.86 s.
Q 13Whose 1936 feat did Lewis match with four golds at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics?
Jesse Owens
He won the 100 m, 200 m, long jump and 4 x 100 m relay.
Q 14Why was Lewis booed during the 1984 Olympic long jump he won?
Q 21What did Lewis place in his father's hand at his burial in 1987?
His 1984 100 m gold medal
'Don't worry,' he told his mother. 'I'll get another one.'
Q 22Why did Lewis's 9.78 s at the 1988 Olympic trials not count as a world record?
It was wind-aided
It came at Indianapolis before the Seoul Games.
Q 23How many days after the Seoul 100 m final was the winner stripped of gold for steroids?
3
Lewis's time became an American record and, eventually, the ratified world record.
Who beat Lewis to 200 m gold in Seoul in 19.75 s?
He passed his last four jumps
His first jump of 8.54 m was enough to win and he was saving himself for the 200 m and relay.
Q 15What time did Lewis anchor the US 4 x 100 m relay to in Los Angeles, a world record?
37.83 s
It was his fourth gold of the Games.
Q 16Lewis's agent damaged his image in 1984 by comparing him to which pop star?
Michael Jackson
Coca-Cola withdrew a deal and Nike dropped him.
Q 17Which NBA team drafted Lewis 208th overall in 1984 despite him never playing basketball?
Chicago Bulls
An NBA.com poll ranked it the second most unusual draft pick ever, behind Lusia Harris.
Q 18Which NFL team drafted Lewis as a wide receiver in the 12th round of the 1984 draft?
Dallas Cowboys
He had not played college football and never played in the NFL either.
Q 19Which sportswear company did Lewis sign with after Nike dropped him?
Mizuno
A Nike rep said the American public wanted male athletes to 'look macho'.
Q 20Which Canadian beat Lewis with a 9.83 s world record at the 1987 World Championships in Rome?
Ben Johnson
Lewis ran 9.93 s, tying the old record, and then hinted at drug use in the sport.
Joe DeLoach
Lewis's 19.79 s dipped under his own Olympic record but only earned silver.
Q 25Why did Lewis never run the 4 x 100 m relay final in Seoul?
The US team was disqualified in a heat
The Americans fumbled a baton exchange.
Q 26From January 1, 1990, Lewis held the 100 m world record with which time?
9.92 s
Johnson's records were struck out after he admitted steroid use under oath.
Q 27Which college teammate broke Lewis's 100 m record with 9.90 s in June 1991?
Leroy Burrell
Lewis took the record back two months later in Tokyo.
Q 28What world-record time did Lewis run to win the 100 m at the 1991 Tokyo Worlds?
9.86 s
Six men broke ten seconds; he called it 'the best race of my life' and did it at thirty.
Q 29Who beat Lewis in the legendary 1991 Tokyo long-jump final, ending his ten-year streak?
Mike Powell
Lewis's wind-aided 8.91 m was the longest jump ever recorded, but it could not count as a record.
Q 30How far did Powell jump to set the world record in Tokyo?
8.95 m
Lewis answered with 8.87 m and 8.84 m; the three marks remain the top three low-altitude jumps ever.