In 1991 Mike Powell of the United States broke the longest-standing track-and-field world record--in the long jump. In the same event he also defeated one of the great athletes of all time--Carl Lewis of the United States--for the first time. The victory established Powell as the best long jumper in the world, a title he held until 1995. An incredible athlete and fierce competitor, he hopes to win the one award he has never received--an Olympic gold medal in the long jump--at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Growing up

Junior jumper

Michael Anthony Powell was born November 10, 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, John, worked as a roofer, and his mother, Carolyn, is an accountant. Powell was the youngest of three children. He was always a good jumper. "I'd go out the front door and leap right over the steps onto the sidewalk," Powell recalled in the Philadelphia Daily...