How Alfred went from breaking point to Olympic 100m gold

Julien Alfred had reached breaking point, but 1 question changed everything.

"Are you acceptable to beryllium Olympic champion?" her manager asked.

The 23-year-old had been done truthful much.

At 12, she had mislaid her father. At 14, she had near home, connected the Caribbean land of St Lucia, to prosecute her Olympic dream.

Alfred emerged arsenic a genuine Olympic contender aft going adjacent to the satellite podium past year.

She won the Olympic 100m rubric astatine Paris 2024. In September, she had a St Lucia nationalist vacation named aft her.

Yet months earlier she wrote history, Alfred's Olympic information was successful superior doubt.

"Early this season, I had a breakdown. I told my manager I didn't privation to proceed my season, I told my cause to cancel my meets," Alfred told BBC Sport.

"I didn't privation to continue. I was truthful hard connected myself. I was overweight, I was struggling mentally and feeling similar I couldn't spell on.

"My manager took maine disconnected the way for a bit, we had a agelong speech and we some cried connected the phone.

"The past happening helium said to maine was: 'Are you acceptable to beryllium an Olympic champion?' He believed that I could beryllium one."

Alfred is coached by Texas-based Edrick Floreal, who besides trains Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith and Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke.

His content proved prophetic.

In a frenzied Saturday nighttime ambiance astatine the Stade de France, Alfred seized her moment.

With her archetypal planetary outdoor title, she not lone delivered the archetypal Olympic golden successful St Lucia's past but besides the land nation's archetypal Games medal of immoderate colour.

And she had achieved it successful the Games' bluish riband event, moving the contention of her beingness to bushed satellite champion Sha'Carri Richardson successful a nationalist grounds clip of 10.72 seconds.

An outpouring of emotion followed. Alfred had reached the pinnacle of her athletics - but her father, who died successful 2013, was not determination to witnesser it.

"Oh my God, I cried. I bawled my eyes out," said Alfred.

"Just seeing however acold I've travel but my dada not being determination to spot maine execute it.

"It did wounded me, that helium was not with me."

Alfred's passionateness for athletics was diminished by the nonaccomplishment of her father, Julian, who would instrumentality her to grooming and perpetually archer friends astir however accelerated his girl was.

"I felt similar the idiosyncratic who wanted maine to get to this constituent successful my vocation was nary longer here. I felt determination was nary request to continue," said Alfred.

Convinced to instrumentality to the athletics aft a break, Alfred hinted astatine the medals to travel by winning Commonwealth Youth Games 100m golden successful 2017 and Youth Olympic metallic 1 twelvemonth later.

She achieved her archetypal planetary elder medal astatine the Commonwealth Games successful Birmingham successful 2022 and, aft finishing 4th implicit 200m and 5th implicit 100m astatine the 2023 World Championships, Alfred announced her Olympic credentials by winning satellite indoor 60m golden successful March.

But, alternatively than animate assurance that she could onshore Olympic gold, that occurrence - different archetypal for St Lucia - astir derailed Alfred's Paris bid.

"I wasn't motivated similar before," she said. "It felt truthful overmuch unit whenever I got a accidental to race, due to the fact that present I thought that St Lucians was expecting truthful overmuch from me.

"I felt similar I had to triumph each azygous time. I felt similar I couldn't bash it."

After conversations with her manager and her agent, it was agreed Alfred would prioritise her intelligence wellbeing and retreat from competitions.

She admitted determination was a constituent earlier this twelvemonth wherever she feared she would not beryllium acceptable capable to vie astatine the Games.

But, capable to reignite her Olympic ambitions, her signifier was evident astatine the London Diamond League successful July, wherever Alfred ran a 200m idiosyncratic champion of 21.86 seconds.

Not lone did Alfred marque it to Paris, but she departed the French superior arsenic a treble sprint medallist, pursuing up her historical 100m triumph with Olympic 200m metallic down American Gabby Thomas 3 days later.

"It's been a agelong journey. You don't conscionable get here. I near location astatine 14, moved to Jamaica, past Texas. I person been done a batch of trials and tribulations, a batch of hardships," Alfred said.

"When you yet transverse the enactment and get gold, the happening you person worked truthful hard for your full life, it is specified an astonishing feeling. I was screaming astatine the apical of my lungs."

On her instrumentality home, Alfred was greeted by the premier curate and the nation's streets were lined with enactment arsenic she was escorted astir the land successful a motorcade, with respective days of organised celebrations culminated with 'Julien Alfred Day'.

Having seen the interaction of her successes, she is determined to usage her power to make the athletics successful St Lucia portion besides promoting her state connected the planetary signifier arsenic a tourism ambassador.

"It's specified an astonishing feeling [to correspond St Lucia]. Life has changed successful truthful galore antithetic ways," Alfred said.

"Using what I've done connected the way to beforehand my country, that's beingness changing.

"But besides conscionable seeing however overmuch of an interaction I've had connected truthful galore people's lives - that, to me, is besides beingness changing."