MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC):

While sprint marvel Usain Bolt's recent stunning achievements may have left him astride the world like a colossus, the man who coached American legend Carl Lewis is not quite ready to call the Jamaican the greatest ever.

In fact, Tom Tellez believes Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals, remains the finest athlete to date, despite Bolt's mind-boggling exploits over the last year.

"I think it's hard to go past Carl, really, as someone who dominated the sport for 18 years and had so much versatility," Tellez was quoted as saying in the Melbourne Age.

'He was a competitor'

"Carl didn't run for times, that's not how we coached him. He was a competitor and he ran to beat the man, not the clock. It's what we always focused on."

Lewis shot to stardom at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when he captured four gold medals, winning the 100 metres, 200 metres, 4x100m relay and the long jump to equal the legendary Jesse Owen's feat.

Lewis went on to win gold in the 100m and long jump and a silver in the 200m at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and also picked up two more titles in the sprint relay and long jump at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

He closed out a superb career at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta by capturing the last of his nine gold medals in winning the long jump.

Along the way, Lewis thrice crowned himself World champion in the 100 metres in claiming nine World Championship gold medals.

Already, Bolt has shattered every sprint record in winning the sprint double at last year's Beijing Olympics and this year's World Championships in Berlin.

Reset those marks

After posting 9.69 seconds in the 100 metres and 19.30 seconds in the 200 metres in Beijing, Bolt then astonishingly reset those marks in Berlin with times of 9.58 and 19.19, respectively.

Tellez said, however, he believes Lewis could have also carved out fast times had he not also focused on his jumping.

"I definitely know Carl could have run faster if he was just sprinting," said the Hall-of-Famer who also coached former World record-holder American Leroy Burrell.

"The way he combined sprinting and long jump, I don't think we'll see anyone do that again in a hurry. You'd think it would happen more often, you need great speed for long jump, but most coaches now don't want their sprinters jumping; they worry about injuries."

He added: "It did take a lot out of him as well. I have no doubt he could have run faster times at some of those big meets if he wasn't jumping as well."

Tellez was quick to praise Bolt, however, pointing out that the 23-year-old was an amazing talent.

"He has the perfect body for it; he's so tall. His stride means he takes fewer steps than the other guys, but his technique is excellent," said the former United States national coach.

"I don't look at him and wonder, because it makes perfect sense to me that he can run that fast with that technique."