Steve Lewis (sprinter)

Last updated
Steve Lewis
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1969-05-16) May 16, 1969 (age 55)
Los Angeles
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight185 lb (84 kg)
Sport
CountryFlag of the United States.svg United States
Sport Track
Event 400 metres
College team UCLA Bruins
Club Santa Monica Track Club
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the Flag of the United States.svg United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1988 Seoul 400 metres
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1988 Seoul 4 × 400 metres relay
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1992 Barcelona 4 × 400 metres relay
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1992 Barcelona 400 metres

Steven Earl Lewis (born May 16, 1969) is a former American track and field athlete, winner of three gold medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics and 1992 Summer Olympics.

Contents

Born in Los Angeles, Steve Lewis took up track at with the Los Angeles Jets youth track club under the direction of Ronald Moore and later went to Banning High School. He transferred to American High School in Fremont, California, following his sophomore year, where he graduated in 1987. While at American he competed in track and field and still holds the Mission Valley Athletic League record in the 400 meters. He won the CIF California State Meet in 1986 and 1987. [1] He would go on to attend UCLA. As a freshman at UCLA, Lewis had a spectacular year in 1988, when the precocious 19-year-old not only completely rewrote the world junior all-time list in the 400 m, but also proved his mettle in senior competition by winning the Olympic gold medal.

Lewis had not been a total unknown prior to 1988, having set a personal best of 45.76 at the 1987 USA national junior championships, but he caught many unawares when he won his quarter-final at the USA Olympic Trials with new world junior record of 44.61, and then slashed this time the following day, when he won his semi-final in 44.11. Despite this performance, Lewis could only finish third in the final in 44.37, having been well beaten by his older compatriots, Butch Reynolds and his UCLA teammate, Danny Everett. [2]

In the Olympic Games at Seoul, Reynolds was the clear favorite to win the gold medal, and few people took Lewis' chances seriously, but in the Olympic final Lewis set a fast pace in the early stages while Reynolds held back. Although Reynolds closed near the finish, Lewis held on to win in 43.87, still the United States, North American and World junior record. Steve won a second gold medal three days later, as a member of the victorious USA 4 × 400 m relay team which equalled the world record of 2:56.16 that had stood since the 1968 Olympics.

By the end of 1988, Lewis had run what still rank as 7 of the top ten junior 400 metre races of all time. [3]

In 1990, he won NCAA Championships in the 400 m and went on to win the US Track and Field Championships in the same event.

In 1992, Lewis, once again, competed at the Olympic Games in Barcelona and won a silver medal in the 400 m and a gold medal in the 4 × 400 m relay, which broke the world record (2:55.74) that Lewis had previously helped tie in the 1988 Olympic Games.

The rest of Lewis' career was affected by injury and an ongoing viral illness, and he never again competed at a major international championships.

Lewis was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2019, he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. [4]

Personal bests

As of 26 May 2024 [5]
EventTime (seconds)PlaceDate
100 meters 10.41 (+0.5 m/s) Irvine April 24, 1992
200 meters 20.58 San Jose May 30, 1992
300 meters 31.82 Gateshead July 17, 1992
400 meters 43.87 Seoul September 28, 1988

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Johnson (sprinter)</span> American sprinter (born 1967)

Michael Duane Johnson is an American retired sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals in the span of his career. He held the world and Olympic records in the 200 m and 400 m, as well as the world record in the indoor 400 m. He also once held the world's best time in the 300 m. Johnson is generally considered one of the greatest and most consistent sprinters in the history of track and field.

Michael Lawrence Marsh is a retired American sprinter, the 1992 Olympic champion in the 200 m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Black</span> British sprinter (born 1966)

Roger Anthony BlackMBE is an English former athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain and England. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4 × 400 metres relay gold medals at both the World and European Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Wariner</span> American sprinter

Jeremy Matthew Wariner is a retired American track athlete specializing in the 400 meters. He has won four Olympic medals and six World Championships medals. He is the fourth fastest competitor in the history of the 400 m event with a personal best of 43.45 seconds, behind Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds and the fifth fastest all-time mark when he set it in 2007.

André Lamar Phillips is a retired American track and field athlete who is best known for winning the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Young (hurdler)</span> American athlete

Kevin C. Young is a former American athlete. He was the winner of the 400 metres hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics. In the final of this event he set a world record and Olympic record of 46.78 seconds, the first time 47 seconds was broken, and a world record that stood for nearly 29 years until it was broken by Karsten Warholm on July 1, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derrick Adkins</span> American hurdler

Derrick Ralph Adkins is a former American track and field athlete who specialized in the 400-meter hurdles. He was an Olympic gold medalist in that event at the 1996 Summer Olympics and World Champion at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. He was the fastest man in the world in the 1994 and 1996 seasons, and holds a personal record of 47.54 seconds. Adkins was a two-time national champion at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Glance</span> American athlete (1957–2023)

Harvey Edward Glance was an American sprint runner. He won gold medals in tandem with his teammates at the 4 × 100 m relay at the 1976 Summer Olympics, 1979 and 1987 Pan American Games, and 1987 World Championships.

Danny Everett is an American former track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events, specializing in the 400 metres. He won bronze medals in the 400m at the 1988 Olympic Games and at the 1991 World Championships, and won gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1987 World Championships and the 1988 Olympic Games. His 400m best of 43.81 seconds when winning the 1992 US Olympic trials, moved him to second on the world all-time list and still ranks him 13th on the world all-time list.

Harry Lee Reynolds Jr., commonly known as Butch Reynolds, is an American former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years 9 days with his personal best time of 43.29 seconds set in 1988. That year, he was the silver medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and a relay gold medalist. He was falsely accused and banned for drug use for two years by the IAAF; until The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Reynolds due to an apparent drug testing procedural flaw. Reynolds was awarded $27.3 million dollars due to the false accusation damages, but he never received the money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio McKay</span> American track and field athlete

Antonio McKay Sr. is a former track and field athlete who specialized in the 400 meters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valerie Brisco-Hooks</span> American sprinter (born 1960)

Valerie Brisco-Hooks is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympian to win gold medals in both the 200- and 400-meter races at a single Olympics.

Kenneth Flax is a retired American Olympic hammer thrower, whose personal best throw is 80.02 metres, achieved in May 1988 in Modesto.

These are the official results of the Men's 4 × 400 metre relay event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There were a total number of 21 nations competing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Mathieu</span> Bahamian sprinter

Michael Walter Mathieu is a retired Bahamian sprinter hailing from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4×400 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, running second leg and recording a 44.0 split, and the gold medal-winning team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was also a part of second place relay team at the 2007 World Championships. He won the bronze medal in the 4x400 metres relay in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Smith (sprinter)</span> American sprinter

John Walton Smith is a former American athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the 400 m event at the 1971 Pan American Games. He remains the world record holder for the 440 yard dash at 44.5 seconds. He set the record while winning the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 26, 1971 while running for the Southern California Striders. The record has stood since then due to metrification in the sport. Contemporary athletes rarely run or are timed officially for the extra 2.34 meters to equal 440 yards.

Willie James Smith III was an American athlete who was the national champion 400 metres runner in 1979-80, and a gold medal winner at the 1984 Olympics in the 4 × 400 m relay.

Darrell Robinson is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the 400-meter dash. He set a US high school national record of 44.69 seconds in the 400 m at the age of 18. He was in the world's top-five 400 m runners in 1985 and 1986. He won a bronze medal at the 1986 Goodwill Games, and won races at numerous high-profile track meetings.

Andrea Arlene Anderson is an American track and field athlete best remembered for winning a gold medal on the 4 × 400 meters relay team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. She ran in the preliminaries and semi-finals. Anderson subsequently had to return her medal along with the rest of the team after Marion Jones was disqualified following her admission to using performance-enhancing drugs. On July 16, 2010, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the other American teammates and returned the medals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalilah Muhammad</span> American hurdler (born 1990)

Dalilah Muhammad is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 meters hurdles. She is the 2016 Rio Olympics champion and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, becoming at the latter the then-second-fastest woman of all time in the event with her personal best of 51.58 seconds. Muhammad was second at both the 2013 and 2017 World Championships to take her first gold in 2019, setting the former world record of 52.16 s. She was the second female 400 m hurdler in history, after Sally Gunnell, to have won the Olympic, World titles and broken the world record. At both the 2019 World Championships and Tokyo Games, she also took gold as part of women's 4 × 400 metres relay team.

References

  1. "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  2. Harvey, Randy (September 29, 1988). "THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 13 : Men's 400 Meters : Steve Lewis Gains Win Over Reynolds". latimes.com.
  3. "400 Metres – men – u20 – outdoor".
  4. "USA Track & Field | the year's best athletes, performances and Hall of Fame inductees honored at USATF Night of Legends".
  5. "Steve Lewis". World Athletics . Retrieved May 26, 2024.
Records
Preceded by Men's World Junior Record Holder, 400 metres
22 May 1988 – present
Incumbent