Julien Alfred agrees with Asafa Powell & Usain Bolt on embracing self focus over fan pressure

Julien Alfred has agreed with Usain Bolt, and Asafa Powell on the importance of athletes prioritizing self-focus over fan expectations to handle pressure.

Julien Alfred agrees with Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell on the importance of an athlete having to compete without the pressure of fans on their back.

The reigning Olympic 100m champion revealed that after winning the gold medal in the 60m at the World Indoor Championships, she had the pressure to deliver at the Paris Olympic Games.

The indoor gold medal was Saint Lucia’s first medal at a World Indoor Championship and she knew they would expect more from her going to the Paris Olympic Games. Julien Alfred revealed that she had doubts in the build-up to the Olympic Games and almost withdrew from the Games.

In an interview with Athletics Weekly, the Olympic 200m silver medallist noted that she carried Saint Lucia’s dreams on her shoulders instead of competing for herself since she was the one doing all the training and making the sacrifices.

“It was April when I just felt like I wasn’t myself. Every time I stepped out on the track I felt like there was this heavy weight on my shoulders that I just really could not handle. With it (world indoors gold) being Saint Lucia’s first medal, now they were expecting so much from me during that time,” Julien Alfred said.

“Instead of me focusing on doing it for myself first, being the one who’s been putting in the hard work and making the sacrifices, I was thinking: ‘I don’t want to disappoint my people. I don’t want to disappoint Saint Lucia’. I think that’s really how it came about, after winning the world indoors.”

Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell have in the recent past talked about how athletes should focus on themselves first before satisfying the needs of their fans. Powell, referencing Jamaica, revealed that fans should not be the reason behind an athlete’s motivation to work hard.

“Jamaica is not a country to carry on your back; these people are very, very hard on the athletes… They love you to death, but they are hard on the athletes. If you are just doing it for yourself when you cross the finish line, then you know it’s for everybody,” he shared.

On his part, Usain Bolt also revealed that starting his career, he always wanted to make the fans happy but he had to realise that he was not always going to win. Bolt added that he had to be selfish at some point and do things for himself.

“I had to figure out that, ‘If I do well, they are going to love me. If I don’t do so well, they won’t love me so much.’ That’s when I figured out I had to do this for myself first,” Bolt said.

Meanwhile, going into the Olympic Games, Julien Alfred revealed that she knew what she wanted and the pressure from outside kept her grounded. She did not want to let down her country people hence the focus to execute the race as best as she could.

Looking back, she has no desire to change anything in the Olympic final in the 100m and 200m but noted that there are quite a few things to work on ahead of the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

“When you know what you’re there for, when you know your purpose, you just can’t allow yourself to get distracted. With all that was happening in Paris, all I had to do was remember why I was there, focus on just executing my own race plan and not worry about anyone else,” Julien Alfred said.

“I don’t think there’s anything in particular that I would change. I mean, it happened how it was supposed to and I can’t change that now, but I think, going to the world championships next year, there are quite a few things that I have to work on with my coach. There’s always something to work on. Nobody’s perfect.”