Greatest Sprinter? Carl Lewis Or Jesse Owens
- Thread starter themancee
- Start date
IN OVERALL TRACK AND FIELD
I saw Carl run as a kid. Probably one of the most spectacular track athletes I have witnessed with my own eyes.
IMO, when you read about Jesse Owens, the social climate he was in, the training tools he had to work with and his domination in a "pre-mass appeal sports medicine" era, not to mention this cat beat a race horse over a straight distance, I have to go with Jesse. If he had access to anything an athlete from the 80's to now, his name would be in the record books in more than a handful of spots EASY! Don't get me wrong, Carl was the truth. Jesse was the absolute truth.
IMO, when you read about Jesse Owens, the social climate he was in, the training tools he had to work with and his domination in a "pre-mass appeal sports medicine" era, not to mention this cat beat a race horse over a straight distance, I have to go with Jesse. If he had access to anything an athlete from the 80's to now, his name would be in the record books in more than a handful of spots EASY! Don't get me wrong, Carl was the truth. Jesse was the absolute truth.
did any of yall see owens run?
Jesse Owens, Ben Johnson and then Carl Lewis.
That's when he was broke and making money as a "sideshow"-type attraction. His post-Olympics story is a tragic one. Never got the sort of life he deserved after his historic achievements.
History's 3 most prolific sub-10 second 100m sprinters
1. Maurice Greene
2. Ato Boldon
3. Frankie Frederick
http://www.atoboldon.com/hotstats/
SUB TEN STAT BREAKDOWN
Sub 9.95s
Greene: 32
Boldon: 16
Fredericks: 11
Sub 9.90s
Greene: 10
Boldon: 8
Fredericks: 3
Most consistent times:
Greene: 9.90/9.96 (7 times)
Boldon: 9.86 and 9.99 (4 times)
Fredericks: 9.95 (5 times)
Combined, these 3 men ran 107 sub-10s! Boldon and Greene have run 80 sub-10s between them, with Ato running "sub ten" from '96 - '01 and Greene EVERY YEAR since '97, until his streak ended in 2005.53 athletes have now run under 10 seconds for 100m in history¹....
Greene: 32
Boldon: 16
Fredericks: 11
Sub 9.90s
Greene: 10
Boldon: 8
Fredericks: 3
Most consistent times:
Greene: 9.90/9.96 (7 times)
Boldon: 9.86 and 9.99 (4 times)
Fredericks: 9.95 (5 times)
Combined, these 3 men ran 107 sub-10s! Boldon and Greene have run 80 sub-10s between them, with Ato running "sub ten" from '96 - '01 and Greene EVERY YEAR since '97, until his streak ended in 2005.53 athletes have now run under 10 seconds for 100m in history¹....
...but only 1 of them is of anything but African descent - Pat Johnson of AUSTRALIA - and they are only from 14 countries on the planet, 5 of which are in the Caribbean:
USA (22)
Nigeria (8)
Jamaica (3)
Trinidad (3)
UK (3)
Canada (2)
Ghana (2)
Australia (1)
Barbados (1)
Cayman Islands (1)
Cuba (1)
France (1)
Namibia (1)
St. Kitts/Nevis (1)
The Asian record is 10.00 by Koji Ito (JAPAN)
The Caucasian record is 10.00 by Marian Woronin (POLAND)
Jesse vs Carl? Well it depends on which Carl you're talking about. 
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OK let me school you young cats on track and field, sprinting and its history.
Currently the world record for the 100 meteres is 9.74. Held by Asafa Powell.
Carl Lewis's best time is 9.92. Jesse Owens best time was 10.46.
Florence Griffith Joyner ran a 10.49 which would have beaten Owens most of the time.
The fastest sprint ever run was by Michael Johnson when he ran 19.32 in the 200 meters. Which would have been a 9.66 100 meters.
It's hard to measure against different eras such as it is with other sports. Training has changed. Many of today's top sprinters can bench 300 plus pounds. The tracks are designed for world records. The sneakers are literally as light as feathers. And of course there has been chemical enhancements, legally and illegally.
Jesse Owens did lose races after the Olympics as well as records soon afterwards. All said and done I'll give the edge to Carl for racing in a steroids age without getting caught as Ben Johnson did twice.
In the long jump. Carl Lewis by and far. Without even looking at the top fifty jumps. It can be assumed he has forty of them. Beamons record was a fluke ...a miracle. Other world records were flukes. Lewis consistently jumped 27 and 28 feet. Even the jumpers of today barely hit 27 feet. He would win the long jump gold medal today without being in his prime.
Currently the world record for the 100 meteres is 9.74. Held by Asafa Powell.
Carl Lewis's best time is 9.92. Jesse Owens best time was 10.46.
Florence Griffith Joyner ran a 10.49 which would have beaten Owens most of the time.
The fastest sprint ever run was by Michael Johnson when he ran 19.32 in the 200 meters. Which would have been a 9.66 100 meters.
It's hard to measure against different eras such as it is with other sports. Training has changed. Many of today's top sprinters can bench 300 plus pounds. The tracks are designed for world records. The sneakers are literally as light as feathers. And of course there has been chemical enhancements, legally and illegally.
Jesse Owens did lose races after the Olympics as well as records soon afterwards. All said and done I'll give the edge to Carl for racing in a steroids age without getting caught as Ben Johnson did twice.
In the long jump. Carl Lewis by and far. Without even looking at the top fifty jumps. It can be assumed he has forty of them. Beamons record was a fluke ...a miracle. Other world records were flukes. Lewis consistently jumped 27 and 28 feet. Even the jumpers of today barely hit 27 feet. He would win the long jump gold medal today without being in his prime.
^^^^^OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!
None of whom performed the way Owens did under the pressure of an event such as the 1936 Olympics, in front of a man who claimed that Aryans were the Master Race. Jesse Owens put the first nail in Hitler's coffin and changed the world in many respects. NO athlete can do anything like that these days.
D
DANGEROUSBLACKMAN
Guest
Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens wasn't even the best sprinter of his era. Although he did have a great performance in very adverse conditions in 1936, he only won those events because the best U.S. sprinter of the day (I think he was Jackie Robinson's older brother) got hurt right before the olympics. He never won another medal.
Lewis won gold in four straight Olympics. He held the world record in the 100 several times and won four golds in 84. At the event when Mike Powell broke Bob Beamon's world record long jump, Lewis had the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th longest jumps ever.
People don't respect him like they should because he came off so weird but Carl Lewis is one of the top 10 greatest athletes of all time and definitely the greatest sprinter.
Lewis won gold in four straight Olympics. He held the world record in the 100 several times and won four golds in 84. At the event when Mike Powell broke Bob Beamon's world record long jump, Lewis had the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th longest jumps ever.
People don't respect him like they should because he came off so weird but Carl Lewis is one of the top 10 greatest athletes of all time and definitely the greatest sprinter.
Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor bestowed any honors by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or Harry S. Truman during their terms. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower acknowledged Owens' accomplishments, naming him an "Ambassador of Sports."
Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that blacks in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend his own reception at the Waldorf-Astoria.
U A DIRTY MUTHAFUCKA!
MY FIRST TIME SEEIN' A HOMO PIMP!
Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that blacks in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend his own reception at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Jesse vs Carl? Well it depends on which Carl you're talking about.
[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/76KI6KcG9aI&hl=en[/flash]
U A DIRTY MUTHAFUCKA!
MY FIRST TIME SEEIN' A HOMO PIMP!
most of these clowns don't know any history. even blunt co-signed owens.
I know about Ben Johnson, But I never heard mentioned of in the media or read in print that Carl Lewis was on the juice. Can you name sources or are you speculating? Because I had a raised eyebrow about Carl Lewis as well.
let me put my 5 cents in.. carl brought the 100 mitre dash to the prominance that it is now.. face before carl did we ever take note of the olympics? or track and field for that matter.. jesse did it for his time.. but the greatest track star in history to me is Mr. Edwin Moses.. check the record books..
J.O. 
Jesse vs Carl? Well it depends on which Carl you're talking about.
[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/jamJ4-C_TME&hl=en[/flash]
[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/76KI6KcG9aI&hl=en[/flash]
As a kid I watched Carl Lewis and even was wowed at his ability in his day....Then I watched the second clip
...but quickly took a deep breath thenshook my head...but saddenly clicked on the first clip...
why did I do this...I don't know which one is worse...to quote my man Michael Baisden..."THAT'S SOME FRAGANACALBULLSHIT!Damn....gotta go break wifey off...that shit got me disturbed....
Peace
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