PARIS 2024 : Caribbean dream — how golden girl Julien Alfred made history for island nation of Saint Lucia

As we headed into the women’s sprint events at the 2024 Olympic Games, most people’s eyes were firmly fixed on the usual battle between Jamaica and the US for podium placing. In recent iterations of the Games, that had been the dominant narrative – particularly in the 100m sprint.

In fact, the last time an Olympic podium for the women’s 100m did not feature a Jamaican runner was Seoul 1988. The Jamaicans showcased their superiority in the event at Tokyo 2020, with their sprint stars Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-­­Pryce and Shericka Jackson sweeping all the medals.

The last time someone not from Jamaica had won gold in the 100m was when Belarussian Yulia Nestsiarenka stormed to victory at the 2004 Athens Olympics, holding off challenges from the US’s Lauryn Williams and Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica.

Olympian effort

Enter Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred. The 23-year-old headed to Paris as a lesser-­known entity compared with the likes of Fraser-Pryce and American Sha’Carri Richardson, at least among casual followers of women’s sprinting.

So, when Fraser-Pryce pulled out of the 100m sprint because of injury, the tag of favourite automatically fell onto Richardson. After all, the American is the reigning world champion in the event.

With Olympic 100m and 200m defending cham­­­pion Thompson-­Herah not even travelling to Paris after suffering an Achilles injury a month before the Olympics, both races were blown wide open. In that open space, Richardson was seen as front and centre in the 100m dash, though the retiring Fraser-Pryce was expected to push the 24-year-old in the battle for gold. In the absence of the strongest Jamaicans, Richardson was expected to breeze to a win.

Alfred had other ideas, though, and she etched her name in Olympic lore by beating Richardson with a personal-best run in the final of the 100m. Her 10.72 seconds was also a national record in the distance.

In the process, Alfred secured Saint Lucia’s first medal since the Caribbean island nation made its debut at the 1996 Olympics. That she opened her country’s Olympics account with gold added to the sweetness of the victory.

She also competed in the 200m sprint and stretched Saint Lucia’s medal haul at the tournament to two.

In that race, Alfred managed second spot, finishing behind the US’s Gabby Thomas to leave France with one gold and one silver. Not only for herself, but for her country – which had just four representatives at Paris 2024.

Saint Lucia on the map

“I feel honoured just to be an ambassador for my country. Not many people know about Saint Lucia,” said Alfred, who is based in Texas in the US. “Sometimes I can be in an Uber and they’ll ask me where I’m from… and they’ll be like, ‘Where’s Saint Lucia?’”

Following her Olympic success, this question may become less common for the former University of Texas student. On the flipside, Alfred will also become a much more recognisable figure wherever she goes.

Alfred dedicated her Olympic success to her father, Julian Hamilton, who died when she was just 12 years old. Having spotted her athletic talent, Hamilton dreamt of his daughter heading to the Games to make a name for herself.

“He passed away in 2013. He couldn’t get to see me on the biggest stage of my career,” Alfred said.

It is a dream that Alfred also adopted and she has worked tirelessly to make it a reality since the death of her father. She had to endure the poor facilities in her country, as well as the lack of proper equipment for a budding athlete to reach the pinnacle of her sport.

Early struggles

“Growing up, I used to be on the field struggling, with no shoes, running barefoot, running in my school uniform, running all over the place,” Alfred said after her historic gold medal. “We barely have the right facilities.” 

In spite of the hurdles she had to leap over to arrive at this point in her career, Alfred remained focused on her goal of becoming “one of Saint Lucia’s first Olympic medallists. [One of its] first gold medallists.”

The dream was strengthened back in 2018, when Alfred finished second behind Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukuma in the 100m at the Youth Olympic Games.

“That was the beginning of something great. It influenced my choices in going to college as well. So, it was a really good ex­­perience for me,” Alfred told Olympics.com in 2023.

She won both the 100m and 200m titles in her final year as a National Collegiate Athletics Association athlete.

She also won silver in the 100m race at the Birmingham-hosted 2022 Commonwealth Games, finishing behind Thompson-Herah.

“I’m sure my younger self would be proud. I would have never imagined [this] in my life,” Alfred said in the same interview with the Olympics’ media department a year ago.

Read more: Olympic Games Paris 2024

“Growing up and seeing all those big athletes at this level, sitting on my couch and watching them, I never imagined myself being here. As life has progressed, I’ve realised that I have the potential to be one of the best,” she added.

“I didn’t get here just like that. It took a lot of hard work and perseverance. I gave up many times. Injury-wise, I wanted to go home and just quit.”

With her younger self’s wildest dreams now a reality, Alfred will be hungry for more success. But first she will savour her milestones in Paris, along with the 180,000 people of her country.

Then it is back to work, with many more medals to win. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.