Unknown girl becomes the fastest runner in the world

TP - Few people have ever heard of St Lucia, a Caribbean country with a population of 179,000. No athlete from this country has ever won an Olympic medal. And then Julien Alfred appeared...

On the night of August 3rd, in Paris - the City of Light, a golden moment was created by Julien Alfred. The St Lucian athlete's blistering runs helped her cross the finish line in 10.72 seconds, defeating the American duo, Sha'Carri Richardson (10.87) and Melissa Jefferson (10.92), to win the Gold Medal in the Women's 100m Track and Field.

Alfred put the island nation of Saint Lucia on the world sports map with its first ever Olympic Gold Medal. Photo: Getty Images

In the semi-finals, Alfred beat Richardson with a time of 10.84 seconds. However, most people think that the American runner did not give it her all. At the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Richardson finished in just 10.65 seconds. Having missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to a positive doping test, she was highly motivated to win the coveted Gold Medal. However, Richardson was not mentally prepared. She looked nervous when she stepped onto the starting line, then got off to a poor start and after just 30m, the first place was out of reach. Alfred was different. The 23-year-old athlete had a burning night and quickly left her opponents behind. She surpassed her personal best (10.78) and set a series of new milestones. “For the first time in the Olympics, facing the best on the planet and winning overwhelmingly, what Alfred showed was simply unbelievable.” Former two-time world champion Colin Jackson told the Telegraph Alfred is now the eighth fastest person in history on her Olympic debut. She set a new record in her home country, St Lucia. Many people have probably never heard of the Caribbean country, with a population of 179,000. No athlete from St Lucia had ever won an Olympic medal, until Alfred made history. A clip captured the scene of several hundred people in St Lucia gathered in front of a big screen, with footballs in their hands, watching Alfred's performance. They danced in celebration, then became emotional when they heard the country's hero speak in an interview. "I dreamed of this moment and I'm so happy it happened," the athlete who became the world's fastest person shared. "This victory means a lot to St Lucia. I thank God and the people of St Lucia for giving me the strength to go so far and so fast." Growing up through pain Alfred grew up in Castries, the capital of Saint Lucia, with her talent discovered at the age of six or seven while running around the schoolyard. Her physical education teacher, Stephen, put her in races with the boys, and she beat them with ease. Alfred then joined a track club and began pursuing her dream of becoming Saint Lucia's Usain Bolt. However, after the death of her father, Julian, at the age of 12, Alfred lost her motivation and left track. It was her teacher Stephen who brought her back. "He saw potential in me and didn't want it to go to waste," she shared. To develop her career, two years later she went to Jamaica to study at St Catherine's High School and was coached by Marlon Jones. Alfred also decided to leave home again when she went to the US and enrolled at the University of Texas. Here, Alfred's talent shone through as she became a phenomenon in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) tournaments. Alfred has won titles and set records in every race she has participated in, but she doesn’t consider herself a star. She says she “rarely pays attention to the media”, instead focusing on improving her shortcomings to become better. “Sometimes at the end of a race I use my shoulders too much”, Alfred says. She also trains her endurance, so that she is not only the fastest but also the strongest. In March, Alfred won the women’s 60m gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, completing three laps of the race in a single day. Having grown through the pain of losing her father as a child and Stephen, her first teacher, who passed away late last year, Alfred has also developed an incredible fortitude, which helped her outperform Richardson in the 100m race at the 2024 Olympics. Little was known about Alfred (and Saint Lucia) before. But now the name was seared into everyone's minds, as she shouted it across the finish line, then snatched her bib and pointed proudly at her name.

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