Carol Lewis facts for kids

Lewis in 2023
Quick facts for kids Personal information
Born	(1963-08-08) August 8, 1963 (age 61) Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb)
Sport
Sport	Track and field
Club	Santa Monica Track Club
Medal record Representing  United States World Championships Bronze 1983 Helsinki Long jump World Cup Bronze 1985 Canberra Long jump Liberty Bell Classic Silver 1980 Philadelphia Long jump Pan American Junior Championships Silver 1980 Sudbury 100 m hurdles

Carol LeGrant Lewis was born on August 8, 1963. She is an American athlete who used to compete in track and field. She was especially good at the long jump.

Carol won a bronze medal at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics. She also won the US Championship four times. In 1985, she set a new American record in the long jump with a jump of 7.04 meters.

Carol comes from a family of famous athletes. Her brother, Carl Lewis, won nine Olympic gold medals. Her other brother, Cleveland Lewis, was a professional soccer player. Her mother, Evelyn Lawler, was also a hurdler.

Carol Lewis's Amazing Career

Carol Lewis was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She was chosen for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. However, she could not compete because the United States decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Instead, she competed at the Liberty Bell Classic. This was an event for athletes who could not go to the Olympics. There, she won a silver medal in the long jump. She jumped 6.60 meters. For her achievements that year, she received the Dial Award.

High School and College Achievements

While at Willingboro High School in New Jersey, Carol set a new high school indoor long jump record. In 1981, she jumped 6.59 meters (21 feet, 7.5 inches).

She then went to the University of Houston, just like her older brother Carl. At the University of Houston, she won two NCAA long jump championships. She won in 1983 and again in 1985. She also joined her brother on the Santa Monica Track Club.

Winning National and World Titles

Carol won her first US Outdoor Track and Field Championship in 1982. This was the first of her four national titles. Her jump of 6.81 meters from that competition is still a record for junior athletes in the United States, North America, and Pan America.

She continued to succeed in 1983. She won the NCAA Outdoor Championships. She also earned a bronze medal at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics.

Olympic Games and Record Breaking

After winning the Olympic Trials, Carol represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She was only twenty years old and finished in ninth place.

The next year, 1985, was a big one for her. She won the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second time. She also won a bronze medal at the World Cup in Athletics.

In August 1985, in Zürich, Switzerland, Carol reached her best performance. She broke the American record in the long jump not once, but twice, at the same event! Her record jump was 7.04 meters. This record stood for two years until Jackie Joyner-Kersee broke it.

Carol competed at the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships. She finished ninth with a jump of 6.23 meters. She qualified for her third Olympics in 1988. However, she missed qualifying for the final by just one centimeter.

Life After Track and Field

After she stopped competing in track and field, Carol became a commentator. She worked for NBC Sports, talking about track events. She covered the 1996, 2000, and 2008 Summer Olympics.

In 2000, Carol tried a new sport: two-woman bobsled. She did not make the 2002 US Olympic team. However, she was the brakeman for Shauna Rohbock at the 2002 World Cup in Calgary.

Personal Best Jumps

Here are Carol Lewis's best results in the long jump:

• All information taken from IAAF Profile.

National Titles Won

Carol Lewis won many national championships:

• 4-time United States long jump champion – 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986
• 4-time United States Indoor long jump champion – 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1991
• 2-time NCAA long jump champion – 1983 and 1985

International Competitions

Here are Carol Lewis's results in international competitions:

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  United States
1980	Liberty Bell Classic	Philadelphia, United States	2nd	Long jump	6.60 m
	Pan American Junior Championships	Sudbury, Canada	2nd	100 m hurdles	14.62
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	3rd	Long jump	7.00 m
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	9th	Long jump	6.43 m
1985	Grand Prix Final	Rome, Italy	3rd	Long jump	6.73 m
	World Cup	Canberra, Australia	3rd	Long jump	6.88 m
1987	World Indoor Championships	Indianapolis, United States	9th	Long jump	6.23 m
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	13th (q)	Long jump	6.47 m
Results with (q) indicate overall position in qualifying round

See also

In Spanish: Carol Lewis para niños