Carl Lewis 1996, Lewis qualified for the Olympic team in the long jump for the fifth time, the first time an American man has done so. At the Atlanta Olympics, injuries to world-record holder Mike Powell and the leading long-jumper in the world, Iván Pedroso, affected their performances. Lewis, on the other hand, was in good form. Though he did not match past performances, his third-round leap of won gold by over second-place finisher James Beckford of Jamaica. He became the third Olympian to win the same individual event four times (and one of only four), joining Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm and
Carl Lewis he failed to qualify for the American team, and Lewis won at Helsinki with relative ease. His winning leap of defeated silver medalist Jason Grimes by . He also won the 100 m with relative ease. There, Calvin Smith who had earlier that year set a new world record in the 100 m at altitude with a 9.93 s performance, was soundly beaten by Lewis 10.07 s to 10.21 s. Smith won the 200 m title, an event which Lewis had not entered, but even there he was partly in Lewis' shadow as Lewis had set an American record in