Golden girls inspire all

St Lucians the world over have been celebrating Julien Alfred’s sensational victory in the Olympic women’s 100m. She stunned a global audience that believed that her American rival was the certain gold medallist.

In fact, as you’re reading this, Alfred may have already become a double gold medallist as she cruised through the 200m heats and looked certain to win that too on Tuesday, after we had gone to press.

Alfred, 23, is now the fastest woman in the world and is now in St Lucia’s records as its first-ever Olympic medal winner. In the pouring rain in the Stade de France, ‘JuJu’ stormed to victory in 10.72 seconds, leaving behind the US’s reigning 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson, who took silver in 10.87sec.

Delirious fans watching in St Lucia erupted in excitement as Alfred cruised to victory. Her success was incredible for a girl growing up in the suburb of Ciceron.

Alfred said: “Growing up I used to be on the field struggling with no shoes running barefoot, running in my school uniform, running all over the place.” Alfred, who then honed her skills at Texas University, hopes her success will improve access to sport in St Lucia, population  180,000.

She said: “I’m proud that I’ve helped put St Lucia on the map.” But added: “We barely have the right facilities on the island,” which only began competing at the Olympics in 1996. “The stadium is not fixed. I’m really hoping this gold medal will also help the youth and help St Lucia build a new stadium and really help the sport grow.”

It was quite a weekend for the Caribbean’s small islands, what with Cayman’s brilliant swimmer Jordan Crooks making the final of the men’s 50m freestyle.

Dominica also has plenty to be proud off as well, after Thea LaFond made history by winning gold in the triple jump to claim the country’s first-ever Olympic medal. Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts took silver and American Jasmine Moore claimed bronze.

LaFond set the mark after her second attempt of 15.02 metres - a world best this year - and it proved impossible to better, with rain also making conditions more treacherous.

“This is for you guys,” said LaFond, draped in a Dominica flag after celebrating excitedly in the Stade de France. The Nature Isle has a population of only 70,000. “We don’t often have a lot to celebrate, we’re amazing people... and this is the first time in history, this is a ground-breaking celebration.”

LaFond was inspired by Alfred’s earlier success. “I’m so grateful to Julien because I saw her get that gold indoor (60m this year in Glasgow) and I was like, I’m getting a gold too, and saw her get that gold a few hours ago and I was like, I’m getting my gold too,” said LaFond.

The 30-year-old, who was born in Dominica and emigrated with her family to the United States when she was five, won the World Indoor Championships title in March.

“We’re making history for our islands and that’s what we set out to do every time we get on the track,” she added.

Simone Biles has become the most decorated American gymnast of all time at this summer’s Games. She captured another gold in the vault finals on Saturday. The 27-year-old superstar had already claimed gold in the teams finals and all-around events earlier in the week, before picking up a third at the weekend with a score of 15.3 across her two vaults.

But Biles is irritated by the line of questioning from many reporters who ask winners what they are going to do next, as if what they’ve achieved isn’t quite enough. She posted on X: “Let us soak up the moment we’ve worked our whole lives for.”

When asked by a fan what does come next for her after winning another gold, she sarcastically replied: “Babysitting the medal.”

At least Novak Djokovic has achieved his Olympic dream of a gold medal at last, in his fifth, and probably last Games. He beat Carlos Alcaraz in thrilling fashion to secure that long-awaited Olympic title and complete the career ‘Golden Slam’.

Djokovic, who has won a men’s record 24 majors and swept up every title there is in tennis, put in his best performance of the year to beat the French Open and Wimbledon champion 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) in a draining match which lasted almost three hours.

After hugging Spain’s Alcaraz, the Serb, 37, immediately burst into tears and fell to his knees in the middle of the court. He then unfurled a Serbian flag and clambered into the stands to celebrate with his family and support team.

Djokovic is just the fifth player to win the ‘Golden Slam’ in singles - all four majors and the Olympic title - after Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.