A star was born at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Crossing his boyhood hero Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis dominated the 100m, 200m, Long Jump, and 4×100 m relay. Lewis went on to become one of the most decorated Olympians in history. He has overcome a lot of things to reach the heights he is at today. When winning did not feel like an option, he overcame and conquered.

After just scraping his way into the 96 Olympics in the long jump event, he showed incredible grit to make a glorious golden comeback by winning the gold in the Long Jump. But there was one comeback that he was unable to make. It has been three decades since the Star-Spangled blunder.

30 years since star-spangled blunder of Carl Lewis

Pan American Games are underway in Santiago, Chile. Legendary Carl Lewis was invited to be the guest of honor at the Pan American Games Santiago 2023. The Olympian graced the ceremony with his presence while the audience cheered and roared for the legend. In the video posted by @panamsport Carl Lewis was seen quietly standing in honor of the national anthem.

The @panamsport posted the video with a caption that read, “An Honor to have in the audience of the National Stadium at the Pan-american Games Santiago 2023 9 times Olympic Champion and multiple world champion, @carl_lewis_official Guest of Honor from Pan am Sports.” He stood quiet when the national anthem was being played at the Pan-American event in Santiago.

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The reason behind his silence might be known to some and was found hilarious. The flashbacks from the Chicago Bulls vs New Jersey Nets match on Jan 21, 1993, might still haunt Carl now and then, when singing is brought up. The undefeated Olympic spirit of Carl Lewis must have been shaken as the cracked voice while singing the words “red glare” sent the audience holding their laugh.

The event that conspired

At the Basketball game of 1993, Carl Lewis was invited to sing the national anthem before the kickoff between the Chicago Bulls versus New Jersey Nets. The sight of Derrick Coleman biting his jacket, trying so hard not to laugh was part of a flashback that might stop Carl Lewis from singing the national anthem in public again.

Even though Carl Lewis apologized for that voice crack right there, it is still one of the most iconic and funny moments in history. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, he talked about seeing the funny side of the whole episode. “I’m actually glad it happened, because it’s part of your journey. And the great thing about it, you know, (is) kids would come up and they’ll say: ‘oh, I saw your anthem and I didn’t realise you were that fast,‘”

While Lewis’s rendition was one of the funniest. Some iconic and legendary performances of the Star-Spangled Banner are unforgettable, for all the good reason. The Marvin Gaye version of The Star-Spangled Banner is still one of the most iconic performances done on February 13, 1983, NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. The only performance far more legendary was that of Whitney Houston at the Super Bowl XXV. That performance of The Star-Spangled Banner is the one that still has not been matched.

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Carl Lewis’s silence at the National anthem is understandable. The incident of 93 seems to have built a singing trauma for him. But it is quite obvious that his Olympic career is far more prestigious and it speaks for itself.

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