Carl Lewis against his main rival of the last few years, Mike Powell, the silver medalist in the event from the 1988 Olympics and the top-ranked long jumper of 1990. Lewis had at that point not lost a long jump competition in a decade, winning the 65 consecutive meets in which he competed. Powell had been unable to defeat Lewis, despite sometimes putting in jumps near world-record territory, only to see them ruled fouls or, as with other competitors such as Larry Myricks, putting in leaps that Lewis himself had only rarely surpassed, only to see Lewis surpass them on his next
4 × 100 metres relay at the World Championships in Athletics of medals in the event at six (although only one of them gold). Nesta Carter and Carl Lewis are the only other athletes to have won three gold medals in the relay event. The United States has twice been stripped of the gold medal due to doping by athletes on the national team, having lost both men's and women's titles in 2001. The men's event was affected by doping in its debut tournament in 1983, with Ben Johnson running for Canada, although the team did not progress beyond the first round. Johnson's drug use was only self-admitted during this period