more than a decade ago , carl strong stood on the pinnacle of what was to come the greatest athletics career in history . he had just broken two of the legendary jesse owens ' college records , but never suspected he would become a corporate icon , the focus of hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising . his activity was still nominally amateur . eighteen american and national championship golden awards and 21 track albums together , lewis has become the richest man in the history of track and track - - a multi - millionaire .
Carl Lewis won eighteen gold medals and set 21 world records.