Paris 2024 Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred (Saint Lucia) is currently among the leading names in world athletics, but she has gone through a lot of hardships to get to these successes. And behind them is her mother’s faith in her abilities.
Even as a child, she revealed her sporting potential and her parents saw an opportunity for her to realize herself successfully in life through sports. Her father’s early death is devastating to the family, but her mother’s strength keeps Alfred’s dream alive.
“The day my mother sent me to Jamaica, I cried so much. I was without my family and friends and I thought I had to go back. I stayed with the family, but it was difficult for me to adapt to the new culture. I wanted to give up, but I kept pushing because I knew something good was coming”, said Julien Alfred, who also won a silver medal in the 200m in Paris.
Julien Alfred’s mother makes the difficult decision to send her daughter to Jamaica because she believes it is the best place for her to develop her potential in sprinting. Usain Bolt, Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are the athletes who inspire her to develop.
However, she suffers at home and feels isolated in Jamaica: “I didn’t want to run away anymore”.
Today, however, Julien Alfred is grateful to her mother for believing in her potential: “She saw something in me that I haven’t seen yet”.
