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"FacebookPinterestGetty Images for Nike\n\nLast evening we braved some serious Obama-related West Village traffic in NYC to take a look at Nike's new track and field uniforms for the upcoming London Olympics. What we were planning to see, and did, was the brand's technology-driven apparel and accessories that Team USA's athletes will sport on the track and, hopefully, the podium. What we didn't expect to see was a quartet of track and field gods, including former Olympians Jon Drummond, Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Michael Johnson (sans gold Nikes), assembled together to introduce the new goods. We briefly chatted up Lewis about his vintage GQ cover, being brave enough to rock a bodysuit, and, unexpectedly, hear how the man was destined for gold from the start.\n\nCarl Lewis: You know, I was on the cover in 1984. I was like the second black man, or something. That's how old I am. [laughs]\n\nGQ: Jim Moore, our creative director, was literally just talking about it. We're going to have to pull it from our archive and get it out there.\n\n Lewis: Let me tell you this story. Avedon shot it, right? No makeup. And I was like, where's the makeup cart? And he said, \"I do it with lights.\" So I said, \"you'd better light the hell out of me then.\" [laughs]\n\nWe were getting ready to get the shoot, and I had a towel. So I took this towel and started wiping. You know, wiping the shine off. And he sat there, and he goes, \"Stop.\" And that was the shot.\n\nGQ: That was it? That's the shot?\n\n Lewis: Yeah, that was the shot. The towel was right here, and I was wiping, trying to do that there was the shot. It was kinda cool.\n\nFacebookPinterestCarlLewisGQ84.jpeg\n\n Lewis on the cover of GQ, June 1984\n\nGQ: What year was that?\n\n Lewis: '84.\n\nGQ: Alright, we will find it for you. Now how long have you been working with Nike?\n\n Lewis: God, I signed in '81. I was, uh, how old was I in '81? I was 19. Yeah, January of '81 was when I signed with Nike. It's just such a great situation and to start so young when they were this up-and-coming company and to be a part of their first television campaign, ever.\n\nGQ: So it's been a long trip.\n\n Lewis: It's just an amazing thing. And now, thirty-some years later, I'm still at it.\n\nGQ: You're mentioning all these milestones with Nike and looking at all of this new product, I'm wondering what you think about how far uniforms have come since your day?\n\n Lewis: Let me tell you something. You know, I was the first one to wear a bodysuit in competition.\n\nGQ: Really?\n\n Lewis: No one would wear it. The guys wouldn't wear it, they we're like, \"we gotta wear shorts.\" I said screw that. Track stars have great bodies and I wanted my ass in the stands. And it was a banana yellow and royal blue bodysuit, way back. And so I thought it was more comfortable. Of course, now it's nothing but then it was a big, big deal when I wore that. It was like, you've gotta be kidding, this guy is like crazy. But I wanted the attention, are you kidding me?\n\nFacebookPinterestGetty Images for Nike\n\n Nike's new Olympic track and field uniforms\n\nGQ: Gear aside, what do you think about the sport of track and field has changed most since you were running?\n\n Lewis: I think the biggest change, like everything, is technology. And I think Nike has served a lot of people in that regard, because Nike is focused on the athletes. I know it sounds like a tag line, but they really are. Other people are following, and that's because they're not focused on the athletes 100 percent. So, you know, when they came up with, Air, someone else had to come up with something. Because the other guys aren't focused on that innovation.\n\nGQ: Now I'm sure there's a lot to choose from, but what are the Olympic highlights from your career that really stand out?\n\n Lewis: God. Well, there are two of them. My first gold medal. You know, my father passed away before the second Olympics and that was the only one that my whole family saw. That first gold medal is ridiculous. And then the last one. I mean, I was 35 and I knew it was over. I knew I wasn't coming back. And it was like, I'm going to win four in a row and they're never going to get the chance to beat me in the Olympics. I'm outta here. [laughs]\n\nFacebookPinterestGetty Images for Nike\n\n Nike's podium-ready track and field gear\n\nGQ: [laughing] You peaced out with a lot of hardware. And what goes through your head in those moments? Is it pure determination or are you not even thinking?\n\n Lewis: It's really interesting. I could talk for an hour, but to try to make it short, my mother was the first, to go to college in her family. And she only went to college because a guy saw her running in high school--she wasn't on the track team--and said, she looks fast and told her to go to a track, and she ran fast. And then there was a coach from Tuskegee who saw her. That guy called and said there's a good girl in Gaston, Alabama. And so, they invited her to a clinic in her junior year, and he told her to come to Tuskegee. They didn't really have a lot of money. And so they put it together, she went to Tuskegee and two years later she made the Pan-Am team and made the Olympic team, but got injured. And she didn't get to go to Helsinki.\n\nSo check this out. It just so happened that one of her friends was a woman named Rosa Parks. Now I wasn't born yet but my parents had a car during the bus strikes, they were drivers. So then we all moved to Birmingham. And there, one of my brother's best friends was one of the four girls killed in the church bombing. So we decided to move to New Jersey - it had just finished the civil rights lawsuit. We got opportunity housing. We were the first black family in our neighborhood. And so my mother started a track program because they did not have girl's track in the '60s. I joined that thing and nine years later I was on the '80 Olympic team. And then that's when I met Jesse Owens. And my first world championships, you've gotta be kidding me on this, were in Helsinki. So when you ask that question, I'm so clear that my whole world is divine intervention.\n\nGQ: When are we gonna get a screenwriter on this?\n\n Lewis: My life isn't interesting! It's my mom. You need to write her life and put me in it.\n\nGQ: Okay, a cameo.\n\n Lewis: Right, right. I'm a cameo in her life.\n\nGQ: It's an incredible story.\n\n Lewis: When I got older I realized, you've gotta be kidding me. Your life is so finely intertwined, that how could you not be thankful and get up everyday and say you have a tremendous responsibility. That's how I look at it."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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