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Alexis Holmes Brings A "Gold Medal Mentality" To Stetson

Lucy Gellman | November 11th, 2024

Alexis Holmes Brings A

Culture & Community  |  Dixwell  |  New Haven Free Public Library

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Top: Olympic gold medalist Alexis Holmes. Bottom: Kamili Johnson (right) and her sister. Lucy Gellman Photos.

When 8-year-old Kamili Johnson started running last summer, she discovered what it felt like to be free in her body. Now—with the help of a role model who looks like her—she’s adding Olympian to her list of career aspirations.

Thursday night, Kamili joined dozens of people at the Stetson Branch Library for a visit from Alexis Holmes, the 24-year-old Hamden native and track and field phenom who took home a gold in the 4 x 400-meter relay at the Paris Olympics. Months after winning, she's returning to the place that raised her to inspire a “gold medal mentality” in a younger generation. 

“That gold medal wasn’t won in Paris,” she said as the second floor of the library fell to a hush. Instead, it followed years of hard work and perseverance, including in New Haven, Cheshire and Hamden. "Being a gold medalist, that looks like being excited about what you're learning." 

When Holmes won in Paris, part of a team that also included Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, and Shamier Little, she became Connecticut’s first track and field gold medalist in history. During her time in France, she also ran a personal best of 49.77 seconds, coming home with a new sense of both team and individual accomplishment.

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Top: Holmes with members of her family and the "Stetson Star" award. Bottom: SĀHGE Academy Founder Arden Santana.  

But her journey to Paris began not on the track but at the local YMCA, where her parents enrolled her in swimming lessons when she was just a few months old. Even then, “she just had no fear,” recalled her grandmother, Diane Stanton. In the fierce, fast kick of her little legs, the family had a sense that their girl was unstoppable. 

When Holmes was a kid, she began running with the New Haven Age Group Track Club, the fleet-footed brainchild of now-retired SCSU track coach Jim Barber. On the track, she trained rigorously, meeting kids from across the state. Off of it, she was a dedicated student (her mom, Dawn Stanton, remembered her teaching a school of stuffed animals and dolls in the family's living room) with a love for lacrosse, volleyball, and basketball outdone only by a dedication to her family.  

For several years, it was actually basketball that called to her. By high school—Holmes attended Cheshire Academy—she thought that "I would be the first WNBA star to dunk with nails," she said, showing off her long, immaculate acrylic nails as the room rippled with laughter. Then as she inched towards senior year and graduation, she realized that she wasn't ready to say goodbye to track and field. 

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Top: Holmes during the q & a. Bottom: Jim Barber, who founded the New Haven Age Group Track Club with the hope of bringing more opportunities for young people to New Haven.

It was a hard decision, she remembered: she'd already received offers to play basketball in college, and pursuing track meant turning them down. After talking to her parents, she decided that she would give herself the grace to try making track and field work. She headed to the New Balance Outdoor Nationals. "I didn't even wear a uniform," she remembered, laughing at the recollection of a neon track suit that she wore. At the starting line, she was still virtually unknown.

"I'd struggled with picking a sport, picking a passion, but I felt most like me when I was running," she said. When it was time to run, "I just had this determination that came over me." She ultimately ran 51.21 seconds—a record time for both her career and for the event. It put her on the map.

It was also her launchpad to going pro, a choice that she said has been one of both extreme joy and extreme sacrifice, she said. After high school, Holmes started college at Penn State and finished at the University of Kentucky, from which she graduated cum laude in 2022. 

It was sometimes lonely, she acknowledged—like when she was away from family for months at a time, or had to go to practice instead of spending time with friends. 

When she needed motivation, she looked to track stars who had helped clear a path for her, including Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards-Ross. Despite an ankle injury in 2020, she pressed forward, ultimately soaring at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest and Olympic Team Trials in Oregon earlier this year.

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Top: Holmes with GG and Avi King. The whole family runs, GG said. Bottom: Holmes and Amayah Smith.

“Alexis, sweetheart, you are a shining star and we can’t wait to see where your strength and determination will take you next,” said her mother, Dawn Stanton. 

Her tenacity—and a surprisingly gentle sort of humor—was on full view during a question-and-answer with the audience, after which she donned her medal and posed for pictures with pint-sized attendees. No sooner had she finished a series of short prepared remarks than half a dozen hands went up across the room, Holmes walking to each attendee to offer them the mic. 

"What's the last thing you tell yourself before running?" asked 11-year-old GG King, a student at East Rock Magnet School who later explained that she too is a runner, and sometimes has to pump herself up before hitting the pavement. Earlier this year, GG watched the Olympics, and called it “awesome” to see Holmes and her teammates compete. 

Holmes smiled, her eyes dancing. She gets nervous too, she said—maybe more than she would like to admit. But she always remembers "you prepared for this moment," she said. "You deserve to be here."

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Top: Holmes fields questions from the audience. Bottom: Proud mom Dawn Stanton. 

"What's your favorite thing when running?" asked Kamili. She later said that running—more than any other sport—just "feels like I'm free in the sky and nobody is with me." That resonated for Holmes, who said that she also feels most free when she's running. 

The questions kept coming, from how it feels to run and win a big race (great, and also like she wants to eat a cheeseburger, she said to laughs) to how she prepares for competition (phone off, mental focus on). So it felt right on time when Elaine Roper, vice president of culture and community relations at ConnCORP, asked simply "What's next?" 

For years, Holmes said, she's been so focused on track that she's put her other creative passions on the back burner. But going forward, she would like to write and publish a book, share some of her poetry, and start a photography business. She's not done with track, either—and still excited to see what the future of the sport has in store for her.   

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Top: SĀHGE Academy students Nevaé Brightly, Amayah Smith, Patricia Gardner, and Santana Brightly with Holmes. Bottom: Stetson Branch Manager Diane Brown, who helped put the event together. 

Before ending the session, Stetson Branch Manager Diane Brown and students from SĀHGE Academy presented Holmes with the inaugural "Stetson Star Award," a recognition for the work she has done to inspire young people to excel in whatever they choose to do. Brown explained that the award also comes with financial compensation, because Olympic athletes are expected to pay their own way. 

Students from SĀGHE, which is a civics-focused school helmed by New Havener Arden Santana, seemed equally excited. Student Patricia Gardner, who is a swimmer, said meeting Holmes was “amazing.” When she swims, “I feel like I’m just floating in the air,” she said. She loves knowing she’s not alone in that sense of wonder.

“I want to be friends with her but I don’t know if that would be weird,” added Santana Brightly with a smile. While she doesn’t run seriously, she and classmates agreed that Holmes’ message echoed beyond track. 

Fresh off getting Holmes’ autograph, Kamili said that she now hopes to be an Olympian, in addition to a lawyer and President of the United States. Between now and then, she’ll be getting back to the track for training. “It’s a part of me,” she said.