August 12, 2024: The Paris Olympics had just ended. The USA was at the top of the leaderboard with 126 medals—40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze, one of which was contributed by sprinting phenom, Noah Lyles. Beating Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by 0.005s to win his maiden Olympic Gold, Lyles was on a highest of highs. His girlfriend, on the other hand, was going through the worst time of her life.

It was just another random day for Junelle Bromfield, ahead of the Paris Olympics. It was close to midnight and Bromfield was already in bed, ready to call it a day. Suddenly, the phone pinged. A friend had shared a X screenshot. “You need to check Twitter because Twitter is blowing up,” the message read. Confused, she opened the app to experience the biggest shock of her life.

“Junelle is a Judas,” was the first comment that popped up as she opened the social media platform. There she was, being compared to Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, who had reportedly betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. It was all because Lyles had said something many think he probably shouldn’t have. However, Junelle doesn’t agree.

On the Sim Soul Sessions podcast released September 27, the host Simone Clarke-Cooper touched upon the ramifications that Lyles’ statement had—Junelle  couldn’t go back to Jamaica amid incessant death threats aimed her way. After Cooper stated how Bromfield had to detach herself from the socials, the latter chimed in, revealing the conversation she and Noah had that night. “I was like, ‘Noah, what did you say on the podcast?’ and he was like, ‘I didn’t say anything on the podcast.’ So I was like, ‘Let me go watch it,’ and I watched it and I was like, ‘This is going to blow over’.  

However, it didn’t blow over, but instead got “blown out of proportion,” as the Jamaican sprinter mentioned. Pointing out how the YouTube channel had merely 3.1k subscribers at the time, she said, “I have seen the clips that have been circulating, and for people who did not go and watch the full footage, I see why they would be mad…’Oh, Junelle talk about Shelly-Ann and talk about Elaine’…Noah didn’t say anything about Shelly-Ann or Elaine in the podcast…I could say I understand now, why they were mad, because celebrities were talking about it and they did not go and watch the actual footage of what was said.”

To remind you, the 27-year-old was on a podcast ‘World Track News’ on July 15 this year. As the conversation moved to Netflix’s new track & field documentary ‘Sprint’ that revolves around the lives of US and Jamaican stars, one of the co-hosts, Colin Waitzman, mentioned how he liked the backstory regarding Eliane Thompson-Herah’s move from the MVP club to her husband Derron Herah’s tutelage. The episode titled ‘Trials & Tribulations’ delved deep into the internal friction and competition between Jamaica’s female sprint stars that forced them to grow apart and leave the club.

“Once you have two strong females going head to head for the same thing, and the other standing in the way, then they will develop problems with each other,” MVP Track Club Stephen Francis was heard saying about Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s departure and Herah’s departure in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Hence, Waitzman mentioned, “It was interesting to see how that transition’s going, what things are looking like. And, you know, once again breeding up those conflicts, the conflict resolutions that they did have, you know.”

To this, Noah Lyles gave a knowing smile. “It’s funny you say that…Janelle being Jamaican and having trained in MVP, I have been getting the drama from Jamaican camps for at least five years now,” before adding, “Like Janelle and Elaine used to be very close friends like they were training Partners through 2021”—the same year Herah left.

But, the video that went viral did not include all these other discussion brackets from the podcast. It’s about Lyles citing he has the Jamaican insights, which got Junelle labeled as a traitor. And although she may have cut the Jamaicans some slack in this one incident, but she looks in no mood to forgive this time.

Cyber bullying may have embedded a fear in Junelle Bromfield

Things like wishing somebody’s leg gets broken mid race while they are running at the Olympics, or keeping them away from their homeland via death threats cannot be happenstance. They require strong reasons. And the alleged traitor charger on Junelle Bromfield are just a part of the bigger picture. But at the end of the day, it’s Junelle whose reality is now tainted with these spots. And even though there are Jamaicans who agree that they owe her an apology, or that such instances are shameful, the fact is that Junelle is still scared of going home.

And she may not be ready to put in behind her already. In fact, she stands solid ground that she has done nothing wrong. “Honestly, I would say I’m not looking for forgiveness, especially from the people who came in my DM, talking about my family, talking about my mom.” While she says that such people are asking her to ask for forgiveness, she is clear in her mind, “How are you going to forgive somebody who did not do anything?”

Especially in cases where she got hate for her skin color, its crystal clear that Junelle had nothing to do with it. All she had was disbelief, “I honestly thought we were past colorism in Jamaica especially as a nation that is filled with black people..” she wrote in one of her posts. Thus, on these issues, she might disagree. But Bromfield has given the Jamaicans the benefit of doubt regarding Noah Lyles’ statement, for many of them apparently hadn’t listened to the whole podcast. What do you think of this? Let us know below!