2024 Olympic Athlete of the Week: Julien Alfred
Sprinter Brings Home First-Ever Medal For St. Lucia

One of the best from the Paris Olympics stories thus far has been sprinter Julien Alfred’s gold medal in the women’s 100-meter spring on Saturday.
Why so important? Alfred’s win gave her native Saint Lucia — a popular vacation destination in the Caribbean West Indies — its first-ever Olympic medal.

Saint Lucia has a population of under 190,000 people so it’s an incredible accomplishment. It not only produced a world-class sprinter like Alfred but also won a gold medal in a high-profile and competitive event. The Olympic gold medals odds certainly did not expect Saint Lucia to medal, let alone with a gold medal (+500 at some point), in this year’s games.
As you could imagine, the celebrations in Alfred’s native country started right after her win in the 100-meter final. She qualified for with a 10.95-second time, winning her qualifying heat.
Then, she won the semifinal round with a 10.84-second time before easily winning the final with a 10.72-second time, 0.15 seconds ahead of silver medalist Sha’Carri Richardson and .2 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Melissa Jefferson, both from the US.
So, in her first Olympics, Alfred beat out the favored Americans to set a national record in the 100-meter, finally putting Saint Lucia in the medal record books. Alfred’s story is why the Olympics are so cool.
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Saint Lucia Is On The Map
While Julien Alfred’s gold medal will put her on the worldwide stage and likely make her a household name even for non-racing diehards — as well as her country, which was more well-known for its beaches and resorts than for sports — she was already a multi-time NCAA champion during her time with the University of Texas.
But, now, after winning at least one gold medal and competing for another (we’ll get to that later), she is on the verge of superstardom.
The Western Hemisphere, from the US down to countries in the Caribbean like Jamaica, tends to dominate Olympic sprinting events. But for Saint Lucia to produce someone of Alfred’s ability and accomplishments is nothing short of remarkable.
Alfred became the first non-Jamaican to win the 100-meter women’s final since 2004. Talk about a major upset.
Saint Lucia sent four athletes to the Olympics: Two sprinters (including Alfred), a sailor, and a swimmer. But, Alfred was the only athlete to advance to their event’s final round so she’s the only one who could have snapped her country’s medal drought.
She did so in incredible fashion against the other fastest women in the world. She didn’t set the 100m world record. But she did set a national record for Saint Lucia, another huge honor for her.
Julien Alfred became St. Lucia’s first Olympic champion EVER after winning the women’s 100m and it’s a moment they’ll never forget. 🇱🇨 #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/DVgS8hYjGR
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 4, 2024
Alfred Isn’t Done Yet
And, maybe the best part of her story is that there may be two Julien Alfred gold medals by the time her Paris Olympics are over.
She qualified for the finals in the 200-meter as well, winning her qualification heat with a 21.98-second time that was behind only American favorite Gabby Thomas’ 21.86-second time in the other qualification heat. That final race is scheduled for Tuesday night and should be another thrilling battle.
While Thomas will be really tough to beat — she was the bronze medalist in the event at the last Summer Games in Tokyo and was the silver medalist in the 200-meter at the 2023 World Championships in Hungary — Alfred is running as well as any other female sprinter in the Olympics right now so it would be unwise to count her out.
If Alfred wins, she’ll be among the individual leaders with the most gold medals at the Olympics this year and would manage to double her country’s historic gold medal count…all by herself.
That would only add to the incredible story that Alfred is writing for herself and for Saint Lucia in Paris which would reach an entirely new level if she were able to win gold in the 200-meter. Frankly, even medaling in that event to give her two individual medals in these games would be incredibly impressive.
That’s another race worth watching because, at this rate, Julien Alfred’s name is one to be remembered.
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