Carl Lewis stands out in the annals of athletics history, and not just for being the nine-time Olympic gold medal winner. Like his idol Jesse Owens, he was the 'nice guy' whose goals in life were far more than the mere winning, grabbing the paycheck, and heading out the door we associate with many modern sports stars.

He has retired from the international running scene, but he is still focusing all his energies into being of inspiration to others. In a recent interview for the 'Life-Voices' team on Srichinmoy.tv, he talks about his work with the Carl Lewis Foundation to encourage self-esteem and self-awareness amongst today's youth, and how his acting career has turned full circle, bringing him back to his athletic roots.

There is a particularly interesting discussion at the start where Carl describes his pre-race approach; here we see him to be a person of tremendous inner depth and focus, and it was no doubt this that gave him the edge over his competitors and enabled him to stay at the top of his game for so long. Inner peace and strength is a strong theme throughout the course of this interview, and Carl talks about a few of the people who have inspired him in this regard, including his parents, and also Sri Chinmoy, the founder of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team and a strong advocate of inner development through running. Carl also talks candidly about the later part of his running career, when everyone was saying he was to old to compete effectively at that level, and how he was able to steer clear of those voices and go on to win the long jump in the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Click here to watch the interview....