The island nation of St. Lucia never had reason to celebrate Olympic gold until Julien Alfred delivered in the 100-meter dash on Saturday.
In the United States, the headline athlete of the women’s 100-meter final Saturday was Sha’Carri Richardson. The favorite to win the race was on the podium Saturday night in Paris, but settled for silver.
The winner — and the headliner in her native St. Lucia — was Julien Alfred.
Alfred, competing in her first Olympic games, ran a personal record 10.72 seconds in the Games’ premier track and field event. Richardson was the runner-up at 10.87. American Melissa Jefferson won the bronze medal in 10.92 seconds.
It was the first time two Americans had reached the podium at the event since Atlanta in 1996.
It was the first Olympic gold medal — in any event — for the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia (whose population of 179,857, per the World Bank, would not rank among the 100 most populous U.
