Carl Lewis quotes: O.G. (Olympic Gangster) enlightens us.
“Life is about timing and overcoming difficult things.”
“Channel your energy. Focus.”
“It’s all about the journey, not the outcome.”
“If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.”
“If you go by other people’s opinions or predictions, you’ll just end up talking yourself out of something. If you’re running down the track of life thinking that it’s impossible to break life’s records, those thoughts have a funny way of sinking into your feet.”
“When you’re a part of something that people want you in… that’s what makes it special.”
“People have a moral standard about what they will do and will not do. At the end of the day, someone who cheats has a lower moral standard than someone who does not. And they will cheat in other areas of life as well.”
“The trials on the road to world harmony are no greater than the courage of those who accept the challenge.”
“Every New Year’s Eve, I have a pact to do something I never thought I’d do. So I created this list. You have to free your mind to do things you wouldn’t think of doing. Don’t ever say no.”
“There is no correlation between a childhood success and a professional athlete.”
“The best kids are going to become the best. But the best thing about it is that you’re going to learn lessons in playing those sports about winning and losing and teamwork and teammates and arguments and everything else that are going to affect you positively for the rest of your life.”
“Track and field is the best way to reach out for kids. It doesn’t matter how fast you are. You always want to beat someone.”
“I work with the Carl Lewis Foundation, focusing on youth from high school down.”
“I never competed against athletes. I competed against perfection.”
“You just go out and do what you have to do, I think that’s what makes a great athlete. A great player, he can go into his own element and do it. That’s like Michael Jordan or Larry Bird. They go into their own element, and then it’s, ‘Give me the ball.'”
“I tell you, it was kind of two-fold. I fortunately had a lot of support. My coach was amazing – he told me to focus on being prepared and that is what I did. Every athlete is nervous – any athlete who tells you they’re not nervous isn’t telling you the truth. I was as prepared as I could be.”
“I’m not a coach and I know it. I’m too busy and it doesn’t pay. I’m expensive. But I would always advise.”
“I sometimes feel even more emotionally invested watching my athletes than I did during my own competitions. One thing was joy – this is pride. I really feel happy that I’m helping someone else have that experience. I’ve had more emotions, high and low, coaching, than I did as an athlete.”
“When Los Angeles hosts the Olympics for the third time in 2028, I could be back at the Coliseum as a coach in the same place my Olympic story began 44 years earlier.”
“At the end of the day, if you’re a professional athlete in track and field, you are the CEO of your company.”
“I know there are a lot of people out there who have the best intentions but not the voice, so it’s about people like me to give them a voice and hear their ideas.”
“Our message of the day is service does not need a title.”
“Any press is good press. So keep on ragging me. I couldn’t let a few people run me out of what I enjoyed so much. I really did enjoy it. I enjoyed training. I enjoyed my teammates, I really enjoyed that atmosphere. And… it’s still the best job in town.”
“‘I’m a nice guy. Like me.’ I don’t think that’s my place. That’s not my way. People can interpret and say what they want to say. People who get to know me know me for whatever they want, whether it’s positive or negative.”
”But I don’t think anybody in the world is liked by everybody. Everybody on the face of the earth is going to be disliked by somebody. There’s nothing you can do about it. Though you certainly can try.”
“You can’t live your life through your children.”
“People have always thought of me as being something, but I’m just a human being like everyone else.”
“My life isn’t interesting! It’s my mom. You need to write her life and put me in it. I’m a cameo in her life.”
“My parents always said, ‘It doesn’t matter when you come in, just try to do your best.’ And that… I did.”
“I found the emotion that, as an athlete, you block out, and it really helped me to understand myself as a person. I’m a really emotional person and it helped make me a better person.”
“I’m not Carl Lewis the athlete any more. I’m growing into a new person with new interests and new goals.”
“I always separated sports and my personal life.”
“I’m a fast learner. I may not run as fast as I used to, but I think I still learn as fast.”
“Whether I’m 40, 50 or 60, I’m going to be as physically strong as I am able.”
“I want to be remembered as a person who felt there was no limitation to what the human body and mind can do and be the inspiration to lead people to do things they never hoped to do.”
“I’m so fortunate to have done what I love to do for so long, but the day I retired was one of the best days of my life. Not because I was happy to get away from the sport, but because it was clear in my mind that I had done all I possibly could, and that it was time to go.”
“I always wanted to be wealthy. I did. I want to be a millionaire, and I don’t ever want a real job.”
“I enjoy my life, I love track, I’m set for life financially.”
