
A sprinter from Saint Lucia who exploded onto the world stage, winning her nation's first-ever Olympic gold with blistering speed.
Julien Alfred ran 10.72 seconds in the 100 meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning Saint Lucia's first Olympic medal. The sprinter from Castries honed her explosive start and top-end speed at the University of Texas at Austin under elite collegiate coaching. She claimed world titles in the indoor 60 meters before dominating the outdoor stage. At the Games, she stormed to gold in the 100 meters, a national record, and added silver in the 200 meters days later. Alfred's performance rewrote her country's history, raising its flag for the first time at the Olympics and inspiring a generation of Saint Lucian athletes.
1997–2012
Born into smartphones, social media, and school shootings. The most diverse generation in history. Pragmatic about money, fluid about identity, anxious about the climate. They do not remember a world before the internet.
Julien was born in 2001, placing them squarely in the Generation Z. The events that shaped this generation — social media, climate anxiety, and a pandemic — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
The biggest hits of 2001
#1 Movie
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Best Picture
A Beautiful Mind
#1 TV Show
Survivor
The world at every milestone
September 11 attacks transform the world
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Russia annexes Crimea; Ebola outbreak in West Africa
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
First image of a black hole; Hong Kong protests
Russia invades Ukraine; Queen Elizabeth II dies
She was a standout collegiate athlete for the Texas Longhorns, winning multiple NCAA championship titles.
She is the first Saint Lucian athlete to ever win a world championship title in athletics, indoor or outdoor.
Her 2024 Olympic 100m gold was won in a final that featured four women from the Caribbean.
“I just want to make my country proud.”