Former St Catherine High athlete at centre of outfit saga
Published:Friday | July 22, 2022 | 12:15 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
FORMER St Catherine High School star athlete Julien Alfred is at the centre of an online attack against her country’s athletics federation.
The 21-year-old St Lucian, a student of the University of Texas, entered the World Championships as the fourth-fastest woman in the world in the 100 metres with a 10.81 seconds clocking but failed to progress beyond the semi-final round following her disqualification.
Fuelled by disappointment, supporters took to social media attacking St Lucia’s athletics federation for not providing the appropriate outfit for the reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One outdoor champion 100m champion, an accusation which has caught the eye of the governing body. Lisa Joseph, general secretary of the St Lucia Athletics Association, in a press release, sought to explain the matter.
“As it concerns Team St Lucia’s competition uniforms, the St Lucia Athletics Association has never and will never send any athlete to represent our beautiful island without bearing the colours of our national flag which we cherish so much,” said Joseph.
“The athlete in question (Julien Alfred) was provided with a competition kit from a local kit supplier, ahead of the Caribbean Games in Guadeloupe two weeks prior to her competing in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, which was amended to the comfort of the athlete. Following the Caribbean Games, another kit was procured for her, this time for the World Championships. When she was presented with the other kit, she intimated that she was not comfortable with it,” added Joseph.
World Championships
The governing body made further moves to solve the issue but this resulted in Alfred wearing a World Championships outfit which didn’t represent St Lucia’s colours.
“To solve this untimely situation, she was taken to a supplier where the St Lucia Athletics Association was able to procure apparel which she said she was comfortable with. Moving forward, persons must not jump to hasty conclusions. Firstly, they should find out and clear the facts from the relevant governing body of the sport before presenting news articles,” said Joseph.