Athletics
Where is St Lucia- Latest country to win first-ever medal at the Olympics
Julien Alfred won the women's 100m gold medal to become the first-ever Olympic medalist from the her country of St Lucia.
Julien Alfred won a first-ever medal for St Lucia at the Olympics by winning the women's 100m gold.
It was a tough field in the women's 100m at the 2024 Paris Olympics despite Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce pulling out due to an alleged injury on Saturday night.
American sprinter and 2023 World Champion Sha'carri Richardson was touted to win the gold medal.
However, as sports have always been, it came up with a plot twist nobody would expect. 23-year-old Julien Alfred of St Lucia decided to change the script completely and stunned everyone with a timing of 10.72 seconds to clinch the gold medal.
On a rainy day with water coming down on the track, Julien made a slick start and continued till the end taking a sizeable lead to create history in Paris.
Julien's medal is a special one as it is the first-ever medal for the island country of St Lucia.
St Lucia started participating in the Olympics in 1996 and it took 28 years to win their first-ever medal and that too a gold.
Where is St Lucia?
Saint Lucia is an island country located in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the West Indies sub-region in the Eastern Caribbean.
It has an area of 617 square kilometers and a total population of 1,80,000 people as per the latest census.
To put it in context, Puducherry is a little smaller than St Lucia with 492 square kilometers area and the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi covers an area of approximately 1,484 square kilometers, which is more than twice the size of Saint Lucia.
In terms of population, the Indian city of Jaisalmer comes closer with a total population of 1,60,000.
Another famous sportsperson from the country is former T20 Cricket World Cup-winning captain Darren Sammy who has a stadium named after himself in the country.
St Lucia has sent a four-member contingent at the 2024 Paris Olympics with two in athletics, one in sailing, and one is swimming.
