Julien Alfred had reached breaking point, but one question changed everything.
“Are you ready to be Olympic champion?” her coach asked.
The 23-year-old had been through so much.
At 12, she had lost her father. At 14, she had left home, on the Caribbean island of St Lucia, to pursue her Olympic dream.
Alfred emerged as a genuine Olympic contender after going close to the world podium last year.
She won the Olympic 100m title at Paris 2024. In September, she had a St Lucia national holiday named after her.
Yet months before she wrote history, Alfred’s Olympic participation was in serious doubt.
“Early this season, I had a breakdown. I told my coach I didn’t want to continue my season, I told my agent to cancel my meets,” Alfred told.
“I didn’t want to continue. I was so hard on myself. I was overweight, I was struggling mentally and feeling like I couldn’t go on.
“My coach took me off the track for a bit, we had a long conversation and we both cried on the phone.
“The last thing he said to me was: ‘Are you ready to be an Olympic champion?’ He believed that I could be one.”
Alfred is coached by Texas-based Edrick Floreal, who also trains Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke.
His belief proved prophetic.
In a frenzied Saturday night atmosphere at the Stade de France, Alfred seized her moment.
With her first global outdoor title, she not only delivered the first Olympic gold in St Lucia’s history but also the island nation’s first Games medal of any colour.
And she had achieved it in the Games’ blue riband event, running the race of her life to beat world champion Sha’Carri Richardson in a national record time of 10.72 seconds.
An outpouring of emotion followed. Alfred had reached the pinnacle of her sport – but her father, who died in 2013, was not there to witness it.
“Oh my God, I cried. I bawled my eyes out,” said Alfred.
“Just seeing how far I’ve come but my dad not being there to see me accomplish it.
“It did hurt me, that he was not with me.”
January 9, 2025 12:45 am
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