The sprinter beat Shakari Richardson to win the women’s 100 metres, becoming the Caribbean island’s first Olympic medal.
Reports Matt Lawton Times London.
Still no win for a woman who missed the last Olympics because she smoked marijuana. Sha’Kary Richardson was considered the favorite to win gold in the 100 meters, but the American was soundly defeated by rising sprinter Julianne Alfred.
For the 23-year-old Alfred, it is his second world title this year, having won the world indoor 60m championship and the first Olympic medal for the tiny island nation of St Lucia.
It was a nightmare for Richardson, who started badly in the semi-final, losing to the mentally dominant Alfred, and then started even more hesitantly in the final after 90 minutes.
A quick look at reaction times makes this clear: Richardson was last to react to the starting gun in the previous round, clocking 0.191 seconds, but was slower when it mattered most, finishing 0.221 seconds ahead of Alfred’s 0.144 seconds.
That meant no one could catch the tall, lanky, slightly ungainly but ultra-fast Alfred, last year’s NCAA champion who, despite driving rain, set a personal best to reach the top of the Olympic podium. In this weather, with so much at stake, 10.72 seconds is highly impressive.
From left: Jefferson, Alfred and Richardson stood on the podium in an event won by three Jamaicans last time out.
Richardson fought back to take second place, finishing in 10.87 seconds but suffering her first defeat in 13 months. Compatriot Melissa Jefferson took third place and Britain’s Daryl Neita produced the best performance of her career to take fourth place in 10.96 seconds. Dina Asher-Smith ran really badly to be eliminated in the semi-final but at least British sprinters were able to get a crack at the top class.
But the best female sprinters remain in the Caribbean, where Alfred has maintained a dominant position at the sport’s highest level over the past five Olympic Games.
Rain fell in Paris on Saturday night, making conditions tough for the players.
Many expected that era of dominance to end with an American player with tattoos and a tongue as sharp as her nails. Indeed, the directors of Netflix’s new documentary series focused much more on Richardson than on the young female player who beat her at the Stade de France. This year’s world champion, the 24-year-old from Dallas, the fastest player in the world, was expected to complete a journey of redemption after losing her place on the U.S. team in Tokyo three years ago because of a decision to smoke marijuana.
In fairness, Richardson always blamed himself, even if his lapse in judgment coincided with him being confronted with the news, delivered during a reporter’s interview, that his biological mother had died.
She has brushed aside talk of a comeback — “I’m not back, I’m recovered” has become a catchphrase — but she knows she’s better, and the pressure of this meet was evident not just on her face, but in the way she ran.
It may not have helped that, like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, she appeared to have arrived 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 injured her hamstring while preparing for the semi-final and was unable to make it to the start line. But this is a major athletics championship and Richardson needs to handle the execution of every aspect of the race.
The conditions were certainly difficult: rains caused temperatures to drop sharply and water to pool on the surface of the shell trail. Alfred overcame these obstacles, but Richardson could not.
That may not be a bad thing: Richardson is exactly what a sport desperately needs to attract a younger audience. But her decision to hire two-time doping convicted Denise Mitchell as coach remains problematic. Athletics has faltered before because of over-reliance on a few athletes, but Alfred is now someone new to celebrate.
She is a commercial performer with a heartwarming story: a girl inspired by an inspiring gym teacher who once made her compete against boys, who was forced to move to Jamaica at age 14 after the death of her father, only to find new inspiration in the person of one Usain Bolt.
She said she watched Bolt’s race before heading to the stadium. “I saw how he runs,” she said. “I grew up watching him run and it was fun to ring the bell today.”
“As a child, I used to struggle on the grounds, running around barefoot, in my school uniform, without shoes. We hardly had proper facilities. We didn’t have a proper stadium. I hope this gold medal will help build a new stadium for St. Lucia and develop the sport.”
This tournament should help, too. Paris is welcoming the Olympics, and the roof of the stadium nearly came off when the fantastic Femke Boll went from fourth to first, finishing in a staggering 47.93 seconds on the final leg to give the Netherlands 4x400m mixed relay gold. The British four took bronze, thanks to Sam Reardon, Raviai Nielsen, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Amber Anning.
