Olympics 2024: Grenada sprinter Halle Hazzard's journey to Paris started on Long Island

Halle Hazzard arrived at St. Anthony’s with a past in gymnastics and an interest in track and field. So the freshman started out by trying to sprint down the runway and soar through the air in the pole vault.

“One of the days, we were doing a workout and she just looked effortless going through the workout,” said Olivier St. Aude, the girls track and field coach for the Friars since 2004. “I actually had to pull her to the side and kind of . . .  introduce her into sprinting. From then on, she kind of took off.”

That 14-year-old girl from Commack is still sprinting as a 25-year-old woman. And she’s ready to take on the world.

Hazzard is a first-time Olympian, set to compete in the 100-meter dash Friday for Grenada at the Paris Games.

St. Aude and others involved with his program will be watching from Long Island, and her parents, Pauline and Philip Hazzard, will be among those watching in person.

Pauline’s pride is right there in her voice.

“Oh, gosh, amazing, amazing,” Pauline said. “I feel amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing.

“Hard work, very, very hard work. Long process. Try to keep her humbled. Getting there was not easy. She’s there and I am so happy, so impressed of all her work ethic and all she has done to get there.”

St. Aude is thrilled, too.

“I’m definitely rooting for her and super excited,” he said. “She’s the queen of St. Anthony’s girls track and field right now.”

It’s his first Olympian with the program.

“I’m elated being that I coached her for four years,” St. Aude said. “Her drive and ambition was amazing.”

“I think for her, she’s so calm and collected in big situations,” he added. “ . . . I’ve never seen her rattled in any of her races.”

Her Friars run included a runner-up finish in the 60 meters at New Balance Indoor Nationals as a senior, earning her All-America honors. She also won two indoor state titles that season, in the 55 and the 300.

Then she repeated outdoors as the state champ in the 100 and was second in the 200. She was named Newsday’s 2017 Long Island Athlete of the Year in girls track and field.

“I’ve learned to believe in myself more,” Hazzard told Newsday during that senior year, “because if you don’t believe in what you’re doing, then you can’t accomplish anything.”

After accomplishing more All-America recognition at Virginia, Hazzard turned pro and earned a master’s in journalism, documentary and film from USC.

She claimed gold in the 100 and silver in the 200 at the 2021 NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association) U23 Championships and was going to run at the Tokyo Olympics that year.

Then she suffered a hamstring injury during her preparation and had to withdraw.

She persevered. And here she is in Paris. Her best time in the 100 is 11.29 seconds.

“My daughter is very humble,” Pauline said. “ . . . She looks at it as just an ordinary meet.”

Halle was born in Commack and still lives there with her parents. But representing Grenada was a natural fit in international competition.

“My husband is Grenadian,” Pauline said. “My mother is Grenadian. My father is Grenadian. My great-grandparents are Grenadian.

“And I’m Trinidadian,” she said, laughing.

Halle’s dad is a tailor and Pauline works in Commack as a program assistant in the Gurwin Healthcare System’s social adult day care program for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

She’s one of two moms of 2024 Olympians working at Gurwin. Christina Jones, a North Babylon resident whose daughter, Brianna Jones, plays for Puerto Rico’s women’s basketball team, is the assistant director of nursing for the Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.

“Everybody over here is excited,” Pauline said. “ . . . We’re talking about it. We’re posting about it.”

Halle’s brother, Payton, also a former St. Anthony’s and Virginia runner and now a holistic doctor, is already in Paris.

“He’s taking care of all her training, her conditioning, anything to do with her health,” Pauline said.

There were many sacrifices made by Halle’s parents for her to reach this Olympic-sized achievement.

“Finances was the biggest part of it,” Pauline said. “Going from state to state, country to country. Getting care for her body. Conditioning. Making sure that she eats right, [that] she’s healthy. Making sure she’s there for practice. The driving was a strain on us, getting back and forth. Every weekend, we were on the road.

“It was a very, very heavy strain on us. We sacrificed everything.”

But you know what?

“It was all worth it,” Pauline said. “I feel we accomplished every goal that we needed to do as parents for that child.”

And now they get to see their Olympian run in the ultimate meet.