Saint Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred recently revealed how legendary athlete Usain Bolt’s clips inspired her to clinch the gold medal at the Paris Olympics 2024. The 23-year-old claimed the unforeseen victory in the 100m race against a strong line-up of athletes. It marked her country’s and her first-ever Olympic win and she also set a new national record.
Julien Alfred has arguably established her athletic mettle in 2024. The athlete kickstarted the year with a bang when she grabbed the gold medal in the 60m race at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow. At the Paris Olympics, the athlete not only won the gold medal in the 100m race, but she also grabbed the silver medal in the 200m race.
Recently, Alfred revealed how she gained inspiration from eight-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, which helped her win a place in the 100m race. In an interview with The Times, the two-time Olympic medalist shared that she wanted to help her family, so she chose running as a solution. That’s why she watched Usain Bolt’s track videos, which taught her about different aspects of the sport.
“I wanted to help my family and I saw running as a way out. So I watched a few of his races before mine. I had to go back to my roots to see how he handled everything, from the pressure to the celebrations. He was an inspiration to me growing up and I wanted to be just,” she said.
At the 100m race, Julien Alfred competed against distinguished contenders like Marie Josee Ta Lou, Sha’Carri Richardson, and others. However, the University of Texas athlete was able to bag the gold medal with an impressive timing of 10.72s. She surpassed Sha’Carri Richardson at 10.87s and Melissa Jefferson at 10.92s.
Nevertheless, in the 200m race, the Saint Lucian athlete secured the silver medal by clocking 22.08s.
Julien Alfred chose the University of Texas for a definite reason
In 2018, Julien Alfred was admitted to the University of Texas to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Youth & Community Studies.
However, the main reason behind her choosing the University was renowned coach Edrick Floreal who had coached top athletes like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Keni Harrison and others.
Alfred revealed in an interview,
“While I was in high school in Jamaica, I watched him coach Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone), and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, he was also coaching Keni (Harrison) at the time. Seeing him have a huge amount of great athletes, I wanted to be with a coach like that, (via World Athletics).”
The athlete won the silver in the 200m race at the Commonwealth Games 2022 under Floreal’s guidance.
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