Bolt: 'I've lost all respect for Carl Lewis'

[achuzia-the-air-raid]

Bolt: No respect for Carl Lewis over drug slurs
Newly-crowned "greatest-ever sprinter" Usain Bolt has said he had lost all respect for Carl Lewis, the man whose on-track exploits he has surpassed with his unique Olympic double-double but who still leads the way in self-regard.

By Reuters | Eurosport – 11 hours ago


American Lewis is the only other man to win two Olympic 100m gold medals, the second coming in 1988 when he was promoted from second place after the disqualification of Ben Johnson.
He won the 200m in 1984 but managed only silver four years later. He did, however, have a remarkable run of success in the long jump, winning that event in four successive Games for a tally of nine golds in all.
In the wake of Bolt's triple-gold record success in Beijing Lewis was quick to point the finger of suspicion at him and Jamaica in general.
"I think there are some issues," he said at the time.
"Countries like Jamaica do not have a random (drugs testing) program, so they can go months without being tested. I'm not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field.
"I'm not saying they've done anything for certain. I don't know. But how dare anybody feel that there shouldn't be scrutiny, especially in our sport?" He has continued to fire broadsides ever since but Bolt, now with his sprinting record unquestionably superior, hit back.
"I'm going to say something controversial right now, Carl Lewis - I have no respect for him," Bolt said, having cited 1936 quadruple champion Jesse Owens as a man he held in the highest regard.
"The things he (Lewis) says about the track athletes, it's really downgrading for another athlete to be saying something like that about other athletes.
"I think he is just looking for attention really because nobody really talks much about him. It was really sad for me when I heard the other day what he was saying, it was upsetting.
"So, for me, I've lost all respect for him, all respect.
"It was all about drugs, about drugs stuff for me. For an athlete to be out of the sport saying that was really upsetting for me. As far as I am concerned he is just looking for attention."
Lewis tested positive three times for a stimulant before the 1988 Games but had the results overturned by American officials.
He was named "Athlete of the 20th Century" by the IOC, the IAAF, and American magazine Sports Illustrated and has always seemed uncomfortable with the idea that someone from the 21st century could surpass his achievements.
Asked before the London Games what he thought of Bolt, he said: "It's just... interesting.
"I watch the results like everyone else and wait... for time to tell."
Even after Bolt won his second 100m title, Lewis's congratulations were wrapped in barbed wire.
"He repeats and he's tremendous and he's the second person to do it and congratulations," he said last week.
"The thing for me, what I really admire about anyone, is longevity. We still have to have the longevity and dominance through the era because for me performance-wise, you really have to put longevity in.
"I'm really not trying to take anything away from his performance because it was tremendous, but you've got to see the consistency over a period of time because as of now it's just a four-year period and you really have to see a continuous dominance.
"We'll see."

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/bolt ... 38050.html

[Damunk]

Too many 'buts' in Carl Lewis' praise of Bolt.
Lewis has always struck me as a bad-belleh man.
Nonsense.

[cic old boy]

There is a Jamo tune from back in the day that goes: "Something no right, something no right.."

[achuzia-the-air-raid]

There is a Jamo tune from back in the day that goes: "Something no right, something no right.."

Nah, it's more like: "bad bele no good o, bad bele no good o.."

[Riversboy]

Carl no dey try. Too obsessed with preserving his legacy to be even halfway gracious. You lose nothing by publicly congratulating a man, and waiting silently for time to tell.

RB.

[pajimoh]

One cannot accuse any athlete until they've been tested and proven to be drug cheat. But let's not be illogical here. If this statement that Carl made is indeed true then one can truly say that their federation has aired. Athletes in the UK must be available 24/7 for testing and it can be midnight or when you're coming out of a club

We even saw what happened to Rio Ferdinand when he was not available for testing and that is football

"Countries like Jamaica do not have a random (drugs testing) program, so they can go months without being tested. I'm not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field.

[cic old boy]

Nah, it's more like: "bad bele no good o, bad bele no good o.."

Say no to dope

[Maradona]

Carl Lewis: 'Who cares I failed drug test?'

Carl Lewis has broken his silence on allegations that he was the beneficiary of a drugs cover-up, admitting he had tested positive for banned substances but claiming he was just one of "hundreds" of American athletes who were allowed to escape bans.

"There were hundreds of people getting off," he said. "Everyone was treated the same."

Lewis has now acknowledged that he failed three tests during the 1988 US Olympic trials, which under international rules at the time should have prevented him from competing in the Seoul games two months later.

The admission is a further embarrassment for the United States Olympic Committee, which had initially denied claims that 114 positive tests between 1988 and 2000 were covered up. It will add weight to calls by leading anti-doping officials and top athletes for an independent inquiry into the US's record on drug issues.

Last week Dr Wade Exum alleged that a ban imposed on Lewis after positive tests for three stimulants had been overturned by the USOC when the athlete said he had ingested them mistakenly in a herbal supplement.

Lewis received only a warning after officials ruled that his positive tests were due to "inadvertent" use. Some scientists believe the substances could have been a masking agent for more serious drugs, such as anabolic steroids.

"The climate was different then," said Lewis. "Over the years a lot of people will sit around and debate that [the drug] does something. There really is no pure evidence to show that it does something. It does nothing."

Lewis, who was arrested in Los Angeles on Monday for suspected drink-driving which friends say was the result of depression over Exum's revelations, won the 100 metres gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics after Canada's Ben Johnson was stripped of the title when he tested positive for a steroid.

Lewis also won the long jump and finished second in the 200m behind his training partner Joe DeLoach, also named by Exum as having escaped a ban.

Johnson has now demanded that Lewis be stripped of his medals from Seoul, although the International Olympic Committee has no plans to review the situation because it has a statute of limitation set at three years.

"Do you expect him to say anything different?" said Lewis. "I mean we're talking about Ben Johnson. Come on. Let's be realistic."

Lewis, 41, said he was not concerned about the uproar around the world caused by the revelations. "It's ridiculous. Who cares?" he said. "I did 18 years of track and field and I've been retired five years, and they're still talking about me, so I guess I still have it."

Moscow is to launch its bid for the 2012 Olympic Games by staging the richest meeting in athletics history, offering a $1m (£630,000) purse to anyone who breaks the 100m world record.

Britain's Dwain Chambers will join the United States' world record holder Tim Montgomery and the Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene in an event in which the winner is guaranteed $500,000, nearly 10 times what the gold medallist in the world championships in Paris will earn. Nine other events, including the triple jump in which Jonathan Edwards is expected to compete, will split a prize purse of $3.5m.

Organisers are predicting a sell-out crowd of 85,000 at the meeting on September 20 in the Luzhniki Stadium, the arena for the 1980 Olympics and the centrepiece of Moscow's bid for the 2012 games, for which its rivals are expected to include London.

The event is being staged with the assistance of Stellar, the British-based management company headed by the former European 200m champion John Regis. "Moscow wants to show it can put on the best meeting in the world to help promote their Olympic bid," said Stellar's Mark Brodie. "It's going to be spectacular."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2003/ap ... ncanmackay

[Heliopolis]

LOL, a proven drug cheat accusing others of doping. I'm glad Bolt put that clown in his place. I pray to god that Bolt eventually leaves the sport with an untarnished legacy.

[Maradona]

LOL, a proven drug cheat accusing others of doping. I'm glad Bolt put that clown in his place. I pray to god that Bolt eventually leaves the sport with an untarnished legacy.

[metalalloy]

LOL, a proven drug cheat accusing others of doping. I'm glad Bolt put that clown in his place. I pray to god that Bolt eventually leaves the sport with an untarnished legacy.

you dey mind am?

[platinum]

Bolt hasn't been caught doing anything....yet. We already know Lewis was juicing. We know Yohan Blake has been caught & banned in the past. The IOC needs to get real...oh wait, it's all about the $$$.

[femibyte]

Carl Lewis needs to put up with some PROOF or SHUT the hell up...

He's just hating because the US is no longer the dominant force in the sprints they once were. After all, he failed a drugs test before, Bolt never has. Thunder fire pon dem !!

[platinum]

Carl Lewis needs to put up with some PROOF or SHUT the hell up...

He's just hating because the US is no longer the dominant force in the sprints they once were. After all, he failed a drugs test before, Bolt never has. Thunder fire pon dem !!

His hating has nothing to do with the USA...you think he gives a damn about that? His hating has everything to do with the fact that he is no longer considered the GOAT. Even when Mo Greene and those guys were lowering his records back then, Lewis was still considered the best sprinter of all time. Now his legacy has been destroyed by this phenom and he is bitter.

Carl Lewis is one of the most egotistic athletes I ever watched PLUS a sore loser to boot. He needs to lock up and sit down somewhere. Even if Bolt is juicing, he wasnt any better.

[metalalloy]

Carl Lewis needs to put up with some PROOF or SHUT the hell up...

He's just hating because the US is no longer the dominant force in the sprints they once were. After all, he failed a drugs test before, Bolt never has. Thunder fire pon dem !!

His hating has nothing to do with the USA...you think he gives a damn about that? His hating has everything to do with the fact that he is no longer considered the GOAT. Even when Mo Greene and those guys were lowering his records back then, Lewis was still considered the best sprinter of all time. Now his legacy has been destroyed by this phenom and he is bitter.

Carl Lewis is one of the most egotistic athletes I ever watched PLUS a sore loser to boot. He needs to lock up and sit down somewhere. Even if Bolt is juicing, he wasnt any better.

[mate]

Whatever the reality behind doping, something tells me Bolt has made a big mistake when it comes to getting corporate American contracts. He should have signed the big $$$ deals and then opened his mouth. Not too smart.

Cheers, Mate

[tfco]

[Lewis tested positive three times for a stimulant before the 1988 Games but had the results overturned by American officials.

...but Ben Johnson got stripped of the gold

[Vincent.]

One cannot accuse any athlete until they've been tested and proven to be drug cheat. But let's not be illogical here. If this statement that Carl made is indeed true then one can truly say that their federation has aired. Athletes in the UK must be available 24/7 for testing and it can be midnight or when you're coming out of a club

We even saw what happened to Rio Ferdinand when he was not available for testing and that is football

"Countries like Jamaica do not have a random (drugs testing) program, so they can go months without being tested. I'm not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field.

I don't think it is just the UK. It is everywhere. Those are the rules of the international athletics federation, not UK rules. Same applies to the Rio Ferdinand situation: those are FIFA anti-doping rules and no UK rules... Meanwhile, I have heard claims that the US federation covered up failed doping tests by Carl Lewis. I don't know how true that is.b

[pajimoh]

One cannot accuse any athlete until they've been tested and proven to be drug cheat. But let's not be illogical here. If this statement that Carl made is indeed true then one can truly say that their federation has aired. Athletes in the UK must be available 24/7 for testing and it can be midnight or when you're coming out of a club

We even saw what happened to Rio Ferdinand when he was not available for testing and that is football

"Countries like Jamaica do not have a random (drugs testing) program, so they can go months without being tested. I'm not saying anyone is on anything, but everyone needs to be on a level playing field.

I don't think it is just the UK. It is everywhere. Those are the rules of the international athletics federation, not UK rules. Same applies to the Rio Ferdinand situation: those are FIFA anti-doping rules and no UK rules... Meanwhile, I have heard claims that the US federation covered up failed doping tests by Carl Lewis. I don't know how true that is.b

You're right that it's not a UK rule but merely pointing out that some countries follow the rules and some countries might be relaxed about the rules while some countries will actively participate in breaking the rules
It is indeed not a level playing field and someone like Lewis should know- he's been a beneficiary of such disregard for rules

[chendosplastic]

LOL, a proven drug cheat accusing others of doping. I'm glad Bolt put that clown in his place. I pray to god that Bolt eventually leaves the sport with an untarnished legacy.

Na waa foram shaa.

[platinum]

Whatever the reality behind doping, something tells me Bolt has made a big mistake when it comes to getting corporate American contracts. He should have signed the big $$$ deals and then opened his mouth. Not too smart.

Cheers, Mate

You assume he doesn't have deals already wrapped up...

[mate]

You assume Bolt is a lawyer.



Cheers, Mate

[The YeyeMan]

Meanwhile, I have heard claims that the US federation covered up failed doping tests by Carl Lewis. I don't know how true that is.b

Yep, true. In the build up to the 88 Olympics he tested positive for banned substances and should have been disqualified by the US federation but it was swept under the carpet. The same for Linford Christie. So Johnson, Lewis and Christie shouldn't have won medals in 88.