Antigua and Barbuda’s National Hero and iconic West Indies batsman, Sir Vivian Richards, has hailed the accomplishments of St. Lucia's Julien Alfred and Dominica's Thea LaFond at the just-concluded Paris Olympic Games.

In fact, Richards, while sharing his excitement about the athletes' achievements, believes their historic feats are something that the entire Caribbean should be proud of, especially given the fact that both are from tiny islands with a combined population of 250,000.

“We all should be proud, and I feel like I am them [athletes] on the podium too, because you can feel it [the pride] when they hold their hearts. This is just a special time, and you have to big them up because it’s huge, especially coming from small territories as we do at times, and being able to make an impact in the world, and you have the world media saying beautiful things about you; there is no better feeling,” Richards said on the Good Morning Jojo sports show.

Alfred, 23, won gold in the women’s 100m in 10.72s, beating American Sha’Carri Richardson, the reigning World Champion, who was heavily favoured to take the race. The feat delivered St. Lucia’s first ever Olympic medal, before Alfred added another when she placed second in the 200m in 22.08s

Prior to Alfred's feat, LaFond again etched her name in history books for Dominica when she won triple jump gold with a leap of 15.02m. That was her country's first ever Olympic Games medal.

The accomplishments of both Alfred and LaFond followed their exploits at the World Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this year, where they also won their respective events.