Lewis, whose reign spanned four Olympic Games – from 1984 Los Angeles to 1996 Atlanta and yielded nine gold medals in sprints, relays and long jump – also believes that India need to invest heavily on building a sporting culture and infrastructure to emerge as a track and field powerhouse in a world that is becoming increasingly competitive.
With Jamaica’s Bolt having set the bar sky high in 100m and 200m, Lewis said the Jamaican’s world records are not going to fall anytime soon.
“Well, I don’t think it’s going to be, anyone can break it anytime soon, no I don’t, I just don’t, I don’t think right now (anyone can break the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds),” Lewis, the international event ambassador of the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, said during a promotional event.
“There’s probably a better shot at that (200m world record of 19.19 seconds), I definitely think it’s a better shot at that, but I think the 100s is away for a while,” said the legend, who confessed that he always loved the long jump, in which he was the undisputed king in four Olympics, more than sprints.
Lewis, whose 100m duel with Ben Johnson during the 1988 Seoul Olympics can never be forgotten for the catastrophic repercussions it had, is convinced that dope cheats need to be hit hard where it hurts.
“To me, they (dope testing authorities) should go after you (dope cheats) financially. And they’re like, how can you do that? Well, unless you reimburse, pay a fine, whatever, you can’t come back (from the ban).
“And maybe that ends your (dope cheats) career. That’s on you (dope cheats),” opined Lewis, who was awarded the 100m gold at the Seoul Olympics after Johnson was stripped of the top position for testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid. Johnson later admitted to taking steroids throughout his career.
Lewis said that relentless testing was the only way to rid athletics of dope cheats.
“The vast majority of people are clean and do the right thing. But I think until there’s forever fear, we’re not going to have it (a dope-free environment).”
He said that a sporting culture and infrastructure were the two key requirements for India to prosper in track and field.
“What happens is that you start with a culture and then you build infrastructure. What India is going to need to do is really invest one way or the another through corporate sponsorship, governmental support…they’re going to have to invest in their children and develop the children.
“India has enough talent to be a power in sports. To me, what’s missing is the infrastructure. India as a whole needs to build their infrastructure for youth. And as those youth become successful, then people see that and they want to emulate that success.
“The United States has a youth program named AAU and USATF that are incredible, and then they have the collegiate system, that’s incredible, that’s already set up, that’s why we have success, because we have those institutions,” said Lewis, who hold is the head track and field coach at the University of Houston, a position he has held since 2014.
