The Taipei Summer Universiade offers a unique opportunity for athletes because it gives them an experience similar to the Olympic Games, former US track and field star Carl Lewis said.
“All our athletes are young. It’s really exciting because they are getting what a true Olympic experience is,” Lewis, assistant coach of the US track and field team at the Universiade, told a news conference at the Taipei Municipal Stadium on Tuesday after the US team held a practice session there.
The experience is one that even a world championship “doesn’t give you,” the 56-year-old said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Lewis is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field, and is the only athlete to have won the Olympic long jump title four consecutive times.
He won four gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics:100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long jump.
His 1984 world record of 8.79m in the indoor long jump still stands.
Lewis also won one silver and two gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, two gold medals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and one gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
US Universiade track and field team head coach Leroy Burrell said the team’s goal is to win 10 medals in Taipei against what he describes as strong competition.
The team also wants to enjoy the Games and learn more about Taiwanese culture during their stay, said Burrell, who is also a former track and field athlete and a former world record holder for the 100m sprint.
The US team is composed mostly of students from the University of Houston, including the coach’s son, Cameron Burrell.
“I will definitely use this experience as a learning experience, or a stepping-stone to go to the Olympics because that has always been one of my aspirations,” Cameron Burrell said.
He ran 9.93 seconds to win the silver in the 100m dash at this year’s NCAA Championships, breaking his father’s 1989 school record of 9.94 seconds.
Discus thrower Valarie Allman, who competed in the 2015 Gwangju Universiade, said the university games have helped her and shown her what it takes to be competitive at the next level.
“It’s really exciting to be in a community where athletes are also celebrated as students” and a sense of continued learning is encouraged, she said.
Asked about the future of track and field, Lewis said he and coach Burrell are involved in a youth track and field club and their objective is to teach young people to help the sport grow.
“Because as time goes on, as we’ve gone through the last 10 or 15 years, the last 10 years especially, the sport hasn’t grown,” Lewis said
“That’s what we’re teaching young people at the University of Houston, that you need to make your job unique and grow your sport and not just grow yourself,” he said.
Asked what he would advise aspiring sprinters, Lewis said: “Fast people are everywhere. Just don’t feel like there’s any reason you can’t run fast.”
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