All eyes have been on Julien Alfred since the star athlete returned to Saint Lucia on Tuesday, September 24.
How the island would honour her historic performance at the Paris Olympics had been a subject of public discourse for some time.
It was finally settled this past week when the region and sports enthusiasts worldwide witnessed Saint Lucian’s emphatic salutations of Alfred during a pre-scheduled, nearly seven-hour-long motorcade across the island upon her arrival.
In the days that followed, there were school rallies, private events, an official signing ceremony as she accepted the role of tourism ambassador, a home-community visit, and, to culminate, a concert held specifically in her honour on Friday, September 27 2024—Julien Alfred Day.
When asked her thoughts on the four-day-long homecoming celebrations, the 23-year-old told a room of reporters on Friday night, “10/10, I loved it. Unexpected, overwhelming … It was crazy.”
Earlier that night, Alfred had been showered with gifts from corporations and the Saint Lucia government, including cash totaling XCD 1 115 000 and a 10 720 square feet parcel of land.
She will also have a stamp designed in her honour, a series of exercise books bearing her photo, a section of the Millennium Highway will be renamed the Julien Alfred Highway, and a monument will be built at the new Cul de Sac roundabout to commemorate her achievement.
“I can’t pick out just one thing, it will be a fret to the others, but I have so many things that just stood out to me and really warmed my heart. It’s been truly an emotional four days for me. I’m really grateful for Saint Lucia,” said Alfred.
Henry Rolle, Puma Representative, and Alfred’s Manager disclosed that the decision to have Alfred’s homecoming seven weeks following the Paris Olympics was strategic.
“I actually came right after the Paris Olympics and met with the government and up until this point we’ve had a lot of dialogue. The intention was to wait this long to actually give them an opportunity to properly plan. I know a lot of people were kind of peeved that it didn’t happen right after the Olympics. Think about it, if it happened after the Olympics would it be at this magnitude? It gave everybody an opportunity to really assess everything. It gave her also an opportunity to understand what she has done and to also embrace the people of Saint Lucia,” Rolle stated, adding, “I’ve been involved with this quite a few times with the Bahamas, but not at this level.”
According to Alfred, these past four days have now given her an answer to some longstanding questions she has received.
“I am still taking some time to really process what has been happening and how my life has changed, you know before coming to Saint Lucia I’ve been asked so many times, ‘how is your life going to change?’ and I think after I leave Saint Lucia, I am now able to answer that question,” she shared.
About her plans, Alfred says while she can’t exactly determine the future, she remains open, ultimately looking forward to God’s plan: “Whatever God has planned for me. [All] I’ve been doing is trusting in God, trusting in His plans for my life and it’s just carried me through, you know, God has the plans for us, we have our own plans but God’s plan is always better than ours.”
