That is Elliott Denman’s sixth column on the 2024 Paris Olympics! Elliott is our most enduring author, having written for American Athletics in 1990, American Observe & Subject, 1994-2016, and RunBlogRun since 2007. Elliot Denman was a 1956 Olympian on the 50k race stroll.
”SANTA LUCIA, SANTA LUCIA.”
STILL REVERBERATING,
FROM THE BRONX TO PARIS
By ELLIOTT DENMAN
Manner again when….
Not all of the grammar faculty children at Public Faculty 21, 225th Road,
The Bronx, New York, appreciated being referred to as to the auditorium
and requested to refrain out as one, with applicable gusto, the
phrases of “Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.”
And in Italian.
Which translated as follows:
“On the ocean, it shines the silvery star, the wave is placid, the wind is affluent,
on the ocean, it shines the silvery star, the wave is placid, the wind is affluent,
come y’all to my boat, Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia! “
(Because of the Evokfas Co. for these translated lyrics.)
My long-remembered private view: “Hadn’t our lecturers ever heard of separation of church and state?”
Nicely, an entire lot of years have flown by. I ultimately realized we weren’t
singing a hymn. This had nothing to do with faith,
After many journeys across the solar, I’ve broadened my view.
I can now inform you that “Santa Lucia” is a terrific, inspirational tune. And ecumenical.
Mario Lanza, Luciano Pavarotti, Sergio Franchi, et al, have labored their
vocal wonders with “Santa Lucia” through the years.
And, should you’re any type of an Olympic fan, you’ll be wanting to affix the
“Santa Lucia” refrain usually now, too
Thanks, then, Ms. Julien Alfred.
Her Southeast Caribbean island of Saint Lucia is an extended, great distance from the heel and boot of the Italian peninsula. However the connection is starting to ring out.
It took simply 32.80 seconds at Stade de France to occur.
After claiming the gold medal within the ladies’s 100-meter sprint closing on the Paris Video games, a transparent winner over USA’s vastly heralded Sha’Carri Richardson, Ms. Alfred returned to the stadium and its 75,000-plus each day, totally-immersed observe followers to take silver and beat all of the world with the only exception of USA’s Gabby Thomas.
In fact, these gold and silver medals prompted inquiries in numerous instructions.
Who is that this younger woman? The place’d she come from? Simply how on this planet did she get so quick? And – most frequently – simply the place is that this place named Saint Lucia?
It didn’t take lengthy for the prying media to get its solutions.
World Athletics answered lots of them:
“Julien Alfred’s story is one among immense resilience and keenness,” WA advised us.
“At simply 12 years previous, she misplaced her father, who had at all times been her largest cheerleader.
“ He’d at all times be so boastful of his daughter being a future Olympian,” the brand new queen of the sprints advised WA.
“The heartache of shedding him led her to step away from working for 2 years. However their love for the game rekindled, and with it got here a realization: to really excel, she wanted to go away her consolation zone.
“In 2015, she took a daring step and moved to Jamaica, enrolling at St. Catherine Excessive Faculty. This gamble paid off, setting her on a path to greatness.”
Her travels continued. The following huge transfer was to the College of
Texas. And she or he actually blossomed out at Austin, claiming multi-golds within the Huge 12 and NCAA Championships and much more, thus setting the stage for Paris.
On the day of the Olympic closing, she spent the morning watching movies of Usain Bolt’s iconic victories for Jamaica. In her journal, she made a solemn promise: “Julien Alfred, Olympic champion.”
It turned a actuality in 10.72 seconds, as she bested USA champion Richardson’s 10.87.
Promise fulfilled, she cried her coronary heart out. Tears flowed in profusion.
And the enjoyment flowed all the way in which again to Saint Lucia.
Even earlier than she returned to the observe and claimed the silver medal within the 200, working 22.08 again of USA’s Gabby Thomas (21.87), Saint Lucia Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre expressed his pleasure to Jamaica radio station Nationwide90FM.
“August 3 can be ‘Juju Day” in her honor.
What a sensational Sport it was for the small (and not-so-small) islands of the Caribbean.
Thea LaFond gained the ladies’s triple leap for Dominica…which is only a brief ferry journey from Saint Lucia.
Marieledy Paulino gained the ladies’s 400 for the Dominican Republic.
Budapest, Hungary
August 19-27, 2023, by Kevin Morris
Other than Kishane Thompson, millimeters again of Noah Lyles within the males’s 100, Jamaica’s sprinters sputtered…however let’s hear it for Jamaica’s Olympic discus king, Roje Stona.
OK, Jordan Alejandro Díaz (Spain), Pedro Pichardo (Portugal), and Andy Hernandez (Italy) have their new allegiances. Nonetheless, please lengthen a share of their gold-silver-bronze triple leap sweep glory to Cuba, the land of their beginning.
Grenada’s Lindon Victor (decathlon) and Anderson Peters (javelin) claimed bronzes, and teammate/four-time Olympic nice Kirani James snared fifth within the 400 in 43.87, and that was even quicker than his gold medal time of 43.94 on the 2012 London Video games.
Reigning Olympic 100 hurdles champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico fell brief in her title protection however nonetheless claimed a bronze.
And in a factoid, few Individuals would notice, the enjoyment of USAer Rai Benjamin’s beautiful conquest of Norway’s Karsten Warholm within the 400 hurdles stretched to Antigua and Barbuda.
The Benjamin household’s roots are in Antigua, the place his dad, Winston Benjamin, had been an excellent worldwide cricket participant.
Even after the Benjamins moved to Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York, Rai had a fling at racing for Staff A&B.
He made the change to Staff USA solely after showing within the 2013 World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine.
Mount Vernon, in fact, is due north of The Bronx. And The Bronx is NYC’s solely mainland-attached borough.
And that brings this story full circle.
“Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia” – the track and the island – nonetheless reverberates.
By means of The Bronx and Paris.
