Paris 2024 Olympics - Athletics - Women's 100m Final - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - August 03, 2024. Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia celebrates after winning gold in the final REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
PARIS (Reuters) - All eyes were on Sha'Carri Richardson as she attempted to end a long American wait for Olympic women's 100 metres gold on Saturday - but it was Julien Alfred, from an island of 180,000 people, who stole the show.
The Saint Lucian sprinter delivered a brilliant performance to win the 100 metres final in a national record 10.72 seconds, beating world champion Richardson into silver and breaking Jamaica's recent stranglehold over the event.
That it was Saint Lucia's first Olympic medal only made the moment sweeter.
"I feel honoured just to be an ambassador for my country," Alfred told reporters. "Not many people know about Saint Lucia. Sometimes I can be in an Uber and they ask me where I'm from... and they'll be like 'Where's Saint Lucia?'"
There are David-and-Goliath stories to be found across any Olympics but perhaps few of the proportion of Saint Lucia versus the United States - or Jamaica.
Saint Lucia, an Eastern Caribbean island nation, had never previously had an athlete on the Olympic podium while Americans have won well over 300 titles in athletics alone, topping the all-time medal table by a massive margin.
Alfred, 23, got herself in the right mindset by watching videos of retired Jamaican great Usain Bolt on Saturday morning and by the evening had catapulted herself into her country's own pantheon of greats.
"(I was) hoping that they could get their first Olympic medal and it came as a goal, so I'm sure they're celebrating right now," said Alfred, who grew up running barefoot in a country that lacked proper track facilities.
"It feels amazing to be honest.".
Alfred will also compete in the 200 metres in Paris, with the first round set for Sunday.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, editing by Ed Osmond)
