Paris: “I’d love to be the first,” Julien Alfred said of the possibility of becoming the first Olympic medallist from the tiny Caribbean island of St Lucia — on Saturday she achieved that in style by winning the women’s 100 metres in Paris.
Getting to the top of the podium was not a smooth passage for the 23-year-old, whose victory came in front of 69,000 spectators, just 110,000 less than the population of St Lucia.
At the age of 12, her father Julian Hamilton died.
Five years later, just before she won Youth Olympic Games 100m silver in Buenos Aires in 2018, her aunt Karen Alfred, who had helped bring her up, passed away.
“I’m sure he would have wished for me to get this medal and be here for this moment,” Alfred said at the time.
Turning point of her career
She pinpoints that silver medal as a turning point for her career.
“I think that was the beginning of something great,” she told Olympics.com.
“It influenced my choices in going to college, as well, so I think it was a really good experience for me.”
Even getting to that stage in Buenos Aires had been an ordeal for the future Olympic champion.
She was so rocked by Julian’s death she stepped away from athletics and two years later aged 14 decided to go to school in Jamaica, the home of her idol Usain Bolt, leaving behind her family.
“I did have tough times when I was 14,” she said earlier this week.
“I got an opportunity to go to Jamaica. So I think getting the opportunity to go to a place where Usain Bolt is was ideal and I decided I wanted to be there and my mum gave me the opportunity to go.
“She didn’t say no. She just said to me if you want to go then, OK.”
It certainly toughened up the young athlete and made her grow up fast.
“It was tough growing up without my family and friends,” she admitted.
Finding the perfect mentor
Alfred, known as ‘Juju’, would not have thought then that she would develop into a talent who would compete on the Olympic stage where Bolt shone so bright.
However, taken in hand by Edrick Floreal at the University of Texas — he also coaches reigning European 100-metre champion Dina Asher-Smith and Irish 400-metre medal hope Rhasidat Adeleke — she developed into a superb sprinter.
A shy individual, Alfred found the perfect mentor in Floreal, someone who could read her and extract the best from her.
“He’s been like a dad, a mentor and a coach,” Alfred told Olympics.com.
“I think at this level sometimes there can be so much pressure and I really appreciate all that he has done, not just from a coaching standpoint, but also just being a human like I am.
“He’s seen me as a human and not just an athlete.”
Difficult adjustment from junior to senior ranks
Floreal has been wowed by how Alfred adjusted from the junior to the senior ranks.
“She’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s a difficult adjustment that a lot of kids are not able to do; there’s a lot of people pulling at you.”
As for the tough times she has endured, she chose an apposite saying from the Bible to put on her Instagram biography.
“Present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Her glory was revealed in 10.72sec on Saturday, stunning pre-race favourite Sha’Carri Richardson — and there promises to be much more to come.
