Carl Lewis describes Greg Rutherford's winning leap in London Olympics as 'pathetic'

Four-time Olympic long jump champion Carl Lewis says the standard of competition in the event is at an all-time low, describing Greg Rutherford's winning leap in London as 'pathetic'.

Speaking to reporters at the United States Olympic team media summit, the 54-year old - who won gold in the discipline between 1984 and 1996 - says the decline in standard is symptomatic of a 'dying sport'.

"The long jump is the worst event in the world right now. Awful," said the American, who won nine Olympic golds and eight at the World Championship during a glittering career.

"Jesse Owens would have been third in the last Olympics. His personal best from 80 years ago would have been good enough to get him a medal in London."

And Lewis accused the elite of the sport of not pushing hard enough to challenge Mike Powell's 25-year-old world record of 8.95 metres, set in Tokyo in 1991.

British jumper Rutherford's winning leap at the London 2012 Olympics of 8.31 metres fell substantially short of Powell's mark.

"Do you want to go and see someone jump 26 feet? They don't know how to jump and they're not trying to because they're winning medals anyway," he added.

"If I jumped 26 feet, I'd walk away and say 'don't measure that, make it a foul'. Have a standard. You don't go to the Olympics for a medal, you go for the distance. People want to go and get a medal for jumping 26 feet? Come on.

"Mike Powell and me were jumping 28 feet regularly. But this generation? Rutherford? I'm sorry, but it's pathetic to me. He's won everything. Are you kidding me? He's doing his best. He's jumping great. But he shouldn't be winning with that."

Looking ahead to Rio this summer, Lewis predicted a bleak Games for his home country, insisting track and field is in terminal decline.

"The sport's dying right now. When Michael Johnson, myself, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Edwin Moses - all of us left, the sport was at a pinnacle," he said.

"It's been in a steady decline ever since. Everyone's talking about how great the sport is, but go back and look at the films of Rome or Helskinki - there were 60,000 people in the stands."