The 2024 Olympic games are now over, and plans are underway for the next Olympics in Los Angeles, California, in 2028. While over 28 million viewers watched here in the U.S. with billions watching worldwide, I’d like to pay tribute to medalists from the Caribbean, some who won gold for their nations for the very first time.
Though my husband and I are sports fans who regularly root for Team USA, I admit we were elated to see athletes from St. Lucia, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Grenada do their homes proud bringing home gold, silver, and bronze medals. I have left out Cuba and Jamaica from this group, since they have garnered fame, attention, and medals in the Olympics for decades. I was keeping an eye on social media comments on the games, and wasn’t surprised that many posters didn’t even know where St. Lucia, Grenada, and Dominica (which gets confused with the Dominican Republic) are on the map.
The pride in home countries was palpable. Join me in meeting three winners who took home the gold.
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One of the biggest upsets in the Track and Field division of the games came from the gold medal win in the women’s 100 meter final, by Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred, who defeated America’s Sha’Carri Richardson, who won the silver. Alfred also won a silver medal in the women’s 200 meter final:
I got a big kick seeing the crowd in St. Lucia at a watch party chanting “Ju-Ju” and responding to her win:
A brief Alfred bio from Kirti Sharma for the site Jagran Josh:
Julien Alfred was born on June 10, 2001, in Ciceron, Castries, Saint Lucia. She faced significant challenges in her early life, particularly losing her father when she was just 12 years old. This event profoundly impacted her upbringing and motivated her to excel in athletics.
Alfred began her education at Leon Hess Comprehensive Secondary School in Saint Lucia, attending from 2013 to 2015. She then moved to Jamaica to further her education at St. Catherine High School from 2015 to 2018. During her time in Jamaica, she developed her sprinting skills by competing against boys in her primary school, which helped her build resilience and confidence in her athletic abilities.
In 2018, she transitioned to the United States to attend the University of Texas, where she pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Youth & Community Studies. At Texas, she stood out as an athlete, breaking records and winning numerous accolades in collegiate track and field.
Next up, tiny Dominica, with a current population of 66,169, also took home a gold. Thea LaFond was the proud, first-time gold medalist at the triple jump.
Andrew Dampf wrote for the Associated Press on what a big deal it really was:
In March, triple jumper Thea LaFond was the only representative of her tiny Caribbean nation, Dominica, at world indoors.
She won the gold medal.
Now at the Paris Olympics, LaFond is the only woman from her country competing in track and field.
Again, she won gold.
Only it was more than gold. It was the very first Olympic medal for Dominica.
“It’s an understatement to say it’s a really big deal,” LaFond said after her victory Saturday night at the Stade de France. “Sometimes you wonder if being from a small country means that you have less accessibility to resources. … But we’ve been really big on (prioritizing) quality and just executing it.”
Thea LaFond posed with her gold medal after she made history for the Caribbean island nation of Dominica by winning gold in the triple jump over the weekend to claim the country’s first-ever Olympic medal.LaFond was the woman to beat after her second attempt of 15.02 meters — a world best this year — and it proved impossible to better, with rain also making conditions more treacherous.The 30-year-old, who was born in Dominica and emigrated with her family to the United States when she was five, won the World Indoor Championships title in March.Dominica, an island nation in the Caribbean Sea, is about 47-kms long and 26-kms wide and has a population of about 70,000
“Today” showcased the moment that her brother, who plays football for Navy, got the news:
The Associated Press highlighted these groundbreaking Caribbean firsts:
Track and field fans are used to seeing Jamaican athletes on the medal stand at the Olympics. In Paris, other Caribbean nations have introduced themselves and their countries to the world.
“It was just our turn, man,” said Thea LaFond, whose gold in the triple jump was the first Olympic medal for her island, Dominica. “It kind of becomes like truly a family. When we say one Caribbean, one love; one Caribbean, one love.”
Sure, Jamaica has six medals — most of them for its unexpected field success — but the medals this time have also come from St. Lucia, Dominica and Grenada.
And the Caribbean athletes in track and field definitely have a kinship.
Next up on the gold medal podium was Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic, who not only won but broke an Olympic record. Jennifer Vazquez reported for NBC:
The 27-year-old, the second youngest of six siblings, has no sporting background in the family, according to her official Olympics biography. She grew up playing pick-up sports in her native Don Gregorio, located an hour away from Santo Domingo.
Her athletic abilities were noticed when she was 18 and playing handball. According to the Olympics.com, it was at that time that the country’s sports minister noticed her talent and she was recruited to the athletics federation.
Paulino was eventually offered a monthly salary to join the Dominican Air Force as a track and field athlete, a sport she started to really dedicate and focus her time on in 2015.
Although she started out as a 100m and 200m sprinter, she moved to 400m in 2020.
“I started running barefoot, then wore socks, running shoes and then borrowed spikes until I was able to buy a pair,” she previously told Olympics.com.
You can look up the medal counts for all the competitors here. Congrats to all who competed!
Join me in the comments section below for more and for the weekly Caribbean News roundup.
