Fairy tale from the 5-athlete sports delegation at the 2024 Olympics

Although only coming to the 2024 Paris Olympics with 5 athletes, the Saint Lucia sports delegation made a big splash at the Olympics.

Julien Alfred celebrates after finishing - Photo: Reuters

More than 70,000 spectators at the Stade de France stadium witnessed the moment Julien Alfred accelerated and won the gold medal in the women's 100m event in a spectacular way. The number of spectators was nearly half the population of Julien's hometown - Saint Lucia. Perhaps most Vietnamese people have only heard of this country for the first time. Saint Lucia is a small country located in the Central American - Caribbean region, with an area of ​​600 km2 and a population of about 170,000 people. At Paris 2024, their sports delegation had only 5 people, but then created a shocking event.

Difficult childhood

Before her explosive performance in the final, Julien was already considered a contender for the top 100m title. She won the 60m gold medal at the 2024 World Indoor Track and Field Championships and led the women's 100m semi-finals at the Olympics. A day before the final, the American media published Julien's story and compared her to superstar Sha'Carri Richardson. Both had difficult childhoods and family pain, only to explode from the American college sports system. Julien's father, Julian Hamilton (Julien by her mother's name), passed away when she was only 12 years old. Immediately after winning the gold medal, Julien mentioned her father with a choked voice: "I believe my father has always been by my side to witness this moment." More than 10 years ago, the pain of losing her father made Julien so depressed that she wanted to give up athletics. In 2015, at the age of 14, Julien had the opportunity to study in Jamaica, and that revived the young girl's motivation to train. "My mother couldn't go with me, but she didn't stop me. So I went to Jamaica. It's not easy growing up without family," Julien said. Why Jamaica? Of course, it's the homeland of Usain Bolt, and it's also the cradle of speed athletics. If you divide the running events into two - sprint and endurance, Kenya and Ethiopia are representatives of the endurance group, while the US and Jamaica are the leaders of the sprint group. Before Julien appeared, the women's 100m event had been dominated by Jamaican runners for four consecutive Olympics. Sprinters going to Jamaica to study abroad is like table tennis players going to China to "study".

Explosion from NCAA

Julien Alfred's name began to emerge from the 2018 Youth Olympics, when she won a silver medal in the 100m event. A few months earlier, Julien had received another bad news when her aunt Karen Alfred, who had raised her since childhood, passed away. But at this point, Julien's potential was as good as an arrow on the bow and nothing could stop the Saint Lucia girl anymore. That same year, Julien received a scholarship from the University of Texas and began working with coach Edrick Floreal. Mr. Floreal leads the University of Texas track and field team and has long been known as a good coach in training young people. Many of Mr. Floreal's students from the University of Texas have become top track and field stars in the world. And Julien is now one of the most brilliant names. After 4 years of dominating the NCAA - the US college sports tournament system, Julien turned professional in 2022 - when she had a bachelor's degree in community studies from the University of Texas. Success did not come too soon, Julien failed at the 2022 World Championships, then showed progress by finishing 4th in the 100m final at the 2023 World Championships. The recent Olympic gold medal was a leap forward but came from a reasonable progression for Julien. The 10.72 seconds in the Olympic final was also Julien's career-best 100m time, helping her surpass Richardson (10.87 seconds). Despite coming from a small country with a population only enough to fill the Stade France stadium twice, Julien was actually trained by two of the world's leading sprinting countries. Along with that is the strong will to overcome difficulties of a girl who lost her father at a young age. All of which makes for an extraordinary story.

Women's 100m champion at the 2024 Paris Olympics - Photo: REUTERS

Historical milestones

Saint Lucia has a very modest sporting history. They first competed in the Olympics in 1996. They have never fielded more than six athletes at any Summer Games, and they have never won a medal until Julien. On the day Julien made history for Saint Lucia, another small country achieved a similar feat, the Dominican Republic, with Thea LaFond winning the triple jump gold. Dominica is only slightly larger than Saint Lucia, at 750km ² , but has about half the population. Like Saint Lucia, this is their first Olympic medal.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chuyen-co-tich-tu-doan-the-thao-5-vdv-tai-olympic-2024-2024080510195646.htm