ATLANTA -- His athletic obituary was written here in March, when he finished last in the preliminary heat of a 60-meter dash at the U.S. Indoor Championships. The resurrection has followed in the ensuing months at outdoor meets across the country, as his times came down and his confidence shot up.
It was during the first meet held at Atlanta's Olympic Stadium in mid-May that Carl Lewis delivered the most important reaffirmation to his comeback by running his fastest time in the 100 meters in four years. And it will be on the same fast track that Lewis hopes to deliver a similar message when the U.S. Olympic trials open today.
If this year's Summer Games are expected to belong to legend-in-the-making Michael Johnson, the man who is trying to become the first ever to win the 200 and 400 meters in the same Olympic competition, then the 10-day Olympic trials will be orchestrated by Lewis. His quest for a fourth Olympic team begins with the 100 prelims late this afternoon.
"I feel I can beat anybody in any race," Lewis said May 18 after a wind-aided time of 9.94 seconds placed him second behind Dennis Mitchell in a 100-meter race so close it needed a photo-finish to determine the winner.
Four years after qualifying for only the long jump at the Barcelona Olympics, Lewis is considered to have a legitimate chance in each of the three events that have shaped his remarkable career. He is not and likely never again will be King Carl, but he is closer to his past than he's been in a while.
"They haven't put me on the team," Lewis said about his recent performances, which also included winning the 100 in the Texas Relays and running his best 200-meter time (20.19) since 1993 in the Mount SAC meet in California in April. "They haven't made me a medal favorite. They haven't done anything. But what they've done is restore my greatest asset, and that is my confidence. My confidence is back supreme again."
It is not the kind of confidence -- arrogance would be a more apt description -- that accompanied a then 23-year-old Lewis to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where he backed up his bravado with gold medals in the 100, 200, long jump and 4 x 100 relay, for which he ran the anchor leg.
Supporters and detractors
And while Lewis hasn't quite gone from being the overwhelming favorite to merely a sentimental one, he knows that at least half the audience will be rooting for him this time. It wasn't that way before, and Lewis, who will turn 35 on July 1, is smart enough to understand he hasn't been the people's choice for much of the career.
