After winning the Olympic Trials, she represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics and managed to finish in ninth place at the age of twenty. The following year she won the NCAA Outdoor Championships for a second time and took bronze at the World Cup in Athletics. In Zürich in August that year, Lewis reached her peak, setting a personal best and breaking the American record in the long jump twice at the same track meeting. Her record of 7.04 m stood for two years until it was beaten by Jackie Joyner-Kersee.