On July 29, 1996, Carl Lewis won his ninth and last Olympic gold medal, making it also his fourth consecutive long jump win.

Lewis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1961 and was raised in New Jersey.

Lewis ran track and field in high school and hit a growth spurt that put him on crutches for three months. By the time he reached his peak height, he was 6-foot-2.

With a nearly 27-foot leap, Lewis set a national high school long jump record.

By the age of 35, Lewis had won the Olympic long jump event three times and, with his win in the 1996 Olympics, became the first Olympian since Al Oreter to win the same event four times.

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(Photo: Tony Duffy/Allsport)