Carl Lewis time of 38.61 s. Lewis received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the athletes precluded from competing in the 1980 Olympics. At year's end, Lewis was ranked 6th in the world in the long jump and 7th in the 100 m. At the start of 1981, Lewis' best legal long jump was his high school record from 1979. On June 20, Lewis improved his personal best by almost half a meter by leaping at the TAC Championships while still a teenager. While marks set at the thinner air of high altitude are eligible for world records, Lewis
Carl Lewis running 19.79 s, but did so in second place to Joe DeLoach, who claimed the new record and Olympic gold in 19.75 s. In the final event he entered, the 4 × 100 m relay, Lewis never made it to the track as the Americans fumbled an exchange in a heat and were disqualified. A subsequent honor would follow: Lewis eventually was credited with the 100 m world record for the 9.92 s he ran in Seoul. Though Ben Johnson's 9.79 s time was never ratified as a world record, the 9.83 s he ran the year before was. However,