Sprinter claims Caribbean island’s first Olympic medal of any colour by winning women’s 100m ahead of Sha’Carri Richardson
A report by Matt Lawton for The Times of London.
For the woman who missed the last Olympics for smoking cannabis, there is still no cigar. Sha’Carri Richardson was considered the favourite to claim 100m gold but the American was comprehensively beaten by Julien Alfred, the new star of women’s sprinting.
For 23-year-old Alfred, it was a second global title this year after claiming the world indoor crown over 60m and a first Olympic medal of any colour for the tiny island of St Lucia.
For Richardson, the evening amounted to an unfolding nightmare, losing to Alfred, and with it a psychological edge, in the semi-final after a desperately sluggish start and proving even more hesitant out of the blocks in the final, 90 minutes later.
A glance down the reactions times told its own story. Richardson was last to respond to the starting gun in the earlier round with a time of 0.191sec and slower still when it mattered most, clocking 0.221 to Alfred’s 0.144.
It meant there was no catching the taller, leaner, slightly ungainly but super-quick Alfred, last year’s NCAA champion even overcoming the heavy rain to climb to the summit of the Olympic podium with a personal best. In this weather, with so much at stake, 10.72sec is mightily impressive.
From left: Jefferson, Alfred and Richardson were all on the podium in an event topped by three Jamaicans last time
Richardson chased and battled her way into second, crossing in 10.87sec but suffering her first defeat in 13 months. Her compatriot, Melissa Jefferson, was third, with Britain’s Daryll Neita producing the performance of her career to take fourth in 10.96sec. In the absence of Dina Asher-Smith, eliminated in the semi-finals after a really poor run, it at least kept British sprinting in contention with the very best.
The very best female sprinters, however, remain in the Caribbean, with Alfred maintaining a stranglehold on track’s blue riband event that now extends to the last five Olympics.
The rain poured down in Paris on Saturday night to provide testing conditions for the athletes
It was an era of dominance that many expected would be terminated by the tattooed American with a tongue as sharp as her talons. Certainly the directors of a new Netflix documentary series focused far more on Richardson than the young woman who conquered her at the Stade de France. The world champion and the fastest in the world this year, the 24-year-old from Dallas was expected to complete her journey of redemption after that decision to have a joint cost her a place on the US team in Tokyo three years ago.
In fairness to Richardson, she only ever blamed herself, even if her error of judgment coincided with being confronted by the news, conveyed to her during an interview by a reporter, that her biological mother had died.
She has resisted any talk of a comeback. “I’m not back, I’m better,” has become quite the mantra. But she knows she is better than this, the pressure of the occasion as evident in her running as it was on her face.
It may not have helped that, like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, she appeared to arrive at the wrong entrance to the warm-up area and was delayed as a result. News then followed that the legendary 37-year-old Jamaican had suffered a hamstring injury while preparing for her semi-final and never made it to the starting line. But this is major championship athletics and Richardson will need to process the execution of every aspect of her race.
The conditions did present certain challenges. With the rain came a sudden drop in temperature and a track made from seashells now had surface water. Alfred overcame those hurdles. Richardson did not.
It may be no bad thing. Richardson is exactly the kind of personality her sport needs at a time when it is desperately trying to attract a new, younger audience but her decision to be coached by a twice-convicted doper, Dennis Mitchell, remains troubling. Track and field has come unstuck before with an over-reliance on too few athletes and, in Alfred, there is now someone new to celebrate.
She is a box office performer with a story to warm the heart. A girl spurred on by an inspirational PE teacher who used to make her race the boys; who was forced to move to Jamaica at 14, after the death of her father, but found new inspiration in the form of a certain Usain Bolt.
She said she had watched Bolt’s races before leaving for the stadium. “I watched how he executed,” she said. “I grew up watching him and I just enjoyed ringing the bell today.
“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. We barely had the right facilities. The stadium is not fixed. I hope this gold medal will help St Lucia build a new stadium, to help the sport grow.”
This Games should help too. Paris is embracing the Olympics and the roof of this stadium almost came off when the brilliant Femke Bol went from fourth to first to claim a stunning 4x400m mixed relay gold for the Netherlands, with a last leg time of 47.93sec. Great Britain’s quartet took the bronze, and credit to Sam Reardon, Laviai Nielsen, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Amber Anning for that.
Sprinter claims Caribbean island’s first Olympic medal of any colour by winning women’s 100m ahead of Sha’Carri Richardson A report by Matt Lawton for The Times of London. For the woman who missed the last Olympics for smoking cannabis, there is still no cigar. Sha’Carri Richardson was considered the favourite to claim 100m gold but
