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Julien Alfred nearly quit athletics due to personal struggles and setbacks including being overweight early in the season, but pointed out that support from her coach Edrick Floreal kept her going.
Julien Alfred has opened up about the time she almost quit the sport due to a series of challenges she was experiencing earlier in the season, including being overweight.
The reigning Olympic champion told BBC Sport that she asked her agent to cancel all her meets so she could return to the drawing board and rethink her decisions on whether she wanted to continue the sport.
Julien Alfred explained that her coach, Edrick Floreal, is one of the main reasons why she continued with her season and managed to win the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 100m and the silver in the 200m.
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07:31 - 05.11.2024
'She has been robbed' - Outrage as Beatrice Chebet misses from World Athlete of the Year finalists
Athletics fans have slammed World Athletics after double Olympics champion Beatrice Chebet was snubbed for the World Athlete of the Year despite having a better season than some finalists.
“Early on that season, I had a breakdown, I was completely out of it and I told my coach I didn’t want to continue with my season, I told my agent to cancel my meets because I just didn’t want to continue,” Julien Alfred shared in the interview.
“I was just hard on myself and I was overweight as well, struggling mentally and I couldn’t go on. But my coach, he worked with me, he took me off the track for a little bit, we had a long conversation, we both cried on the phone and the last thing he told me was ‘Are you ready to be an Olympic champion?’,” she added.
Before the race, she has a little journal where she writes her expectations and affirmations and that was no different at the Paris Olympic Games. Julien Alfred wrote all sought of good things in the journal and affirmed that she would win the gold medal.
She explained that her confidence stemmed from what she had done in training and there was no doubt that she would win the gold medal in the French capital.
“One thing that I wrote down was, ‘Julien Alfred, Olympic champion,’ just manifesting, knowing how hard I’ve worked for this moment. Also, I wrote ‘The world will know my name, I’m unstoppable, it’s my race, my coach has prepared me for it, have fun.’,” Julien Alfred explained.
“There were so many things that I wrote down but just realising that I had a great chance of winning and also believing in myself before going to the final, that I was already the Olympic champion.”
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19:00 - 30.10.2024
'I'm not proud of it' - Junelle Bromfield forced to apologize to fiancé Noah Lyles after major engagement blunder
Junelle Bromfield had to make a promise to her fiancé Noah Lyles after forgetting one of the most important things since their highly publicized engagement.
Her upbringing has not been one to admire though and celebrating her small wins matters a lot since she had to sacrifice a lot to get to the top level. She relocated to Jamaica at the age of 14 and later moved to Texas to pursue her university studies.
“It’s been a long journey, leaving my home at the young age of 14, going to Jamaica, training for three years there, and then moving to Texas on my own, spending five years at the University of Texas in Austin,” Julien Alfred said.
“So, when you finally cross the line, that thing you’ve worked so hard for in your entire life, when it finally comes through and you cross the line first, it’s such an amazing feeling and all I could scream was ‘Yes.’”
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