Carl Lewis Speaks Candidly On Why The U.S. Is Losing Its Dominance

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis addresses the crowd at his annual namesake track and field invitational at the University of Houston, where he is a second-year assistant coach. One-on-one interview with Will Grundy of Texas MileSplit starts at 1:51.

Watch the above interview to hear nine-time Olympic gold medalist and University of Houston assistant coach Carl Lewis speak candidly on his goddaughter Samiyah Samuels' elite prep career, why the United States is losing its international track and field dominance and why the University of Houston track has "the fastest straightaway in the nation."

Key Quotes:

"I was at the Olympics in 2012 and we did not have a good Olympic Games and that's what brought me back into track...

In 2012, we had the worst showing of men's sprints in Olympic history; in 2015, we had the worst showing at World Championships in history. And I think that's because we're not commiting as college coaches to the Olympic experience, so the mandate to the University of Houston is different from everyone else. It's not better, it's just different.

Our mandate is: How many Olympians? How many of the best athletes in the world can we get?

The ultimate goal at the University of Houston for a student athlete is to get a degree and to be an Olympian."