more than a decade ago , carl had stands on the threshold of what was to became the greatest baseball career in history . he had just broken most of the great jesse owens ' school records , but never believed he would become a commercial figure , the focus of hundreds of hundreds of dollars in advertising . his profession was still nominally independent . sixteen olympic and world championship gold medals and 21 world medals later , lewis has become the richest male in the history of track and field - - a multi - millionaire .
Carl Lewis won eighteen gold medals and set 21 world records.