At the Paris Olympics earlier this year, Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred stole the spotlight in the most vigorous way possible. Snatching away the women’s gold from the USA’s Sha’Carri Richardson, Alfred proved definitively that is, in fact, the Fastest Woman In The World. And yet, for most of her life, the 23-year-old has remained under the radar. And while the track and field community devours the second season of SPRINT, Alfred wants to keep herself from letting the fame get to her head.

Right after her Olympic campaign, Alfred’s native Caribbean nation joined hands to revel in her success together. And now, as Netflix uses its platform to give the speedster more exposure with its recent release, Alfred seems more willing to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground.

Julien Alfred isn’t a fan of seeing herself on the screen

In an article by The Telegraph from November 20, the Olympic gold medalist talked about how she took notes from the Jamaican legend Usain Bolt to put Saint Lucia on the track world’s map. During the conversation with reporter Sonia Twigg, Alfred also confessed how she likes to keep things simple and why she’s not interested in watching herself in Netflix’s SPRINT.

“I’m not the type of person to listen to myself, when I’m on TV or YouTube,” Alfred told Twigg, noting how she isn’t a fan of hearing her own voice via any medium. “Hearing my voice makes me cringe. A lot,” admitted the reigning women’s 100m Olympic champ without any two ways about it. She also admitted that while she has an easy-going character in general, stepping into the tracks brings about a massive change in her persona. There, Alfred says, she doesn’t have any friends.

On the other hand, it’s this hardened mentality that has helped Julien to walk away from the City of Love with one gold and one silver. But the journey wasn’t easy, and Alfred certainly has had her share of battles to win to get where she stands now in glory.

Not a smooth sail for the Olympic champ

While she is now a star in the global track community, Alfred had previously revealed how she was once inches away from giving up on the dream. “I told my coach I didn’t want to continue the season, I told my agents to cancel my meets, because I just didn’t want to continue,” she told BBC WOman’s Hour earlier this month. Thankfully, her coach had confidence that Julien had the potential to etch her name among the sport’s elite celebrities, and didn’t give up. “But my coach, he worked with me,” she noted. But it wasn’t just her own demons that Alfred struggled to cope with.

Losing her father at an early age was a pivotal moment in Alfred’s life, and she had decided then that she would go after track immortality. At the tender age of 14, she moved to Jamaica to soak in the country’s rich sprinting culture and shape her destiny by herself. “The sacrifice to leave my family at a tender age, the age of 14, to just chase my dreams, it was definitely a tough decision for me,” she recalls. But the move proved to be a blessing, and Julien Alfred is now the woman to beat when it comes to track and field. So, who is the star that’s keeping you glued to the second season of SPRINT? Tell us!