Marie-José Perec

Marie-José Pérec (born May 9, 1968) is a French athlete, specialised in the 200 and 400 m, and a triple Olympic champion.

She was born in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe and moved to Paris when she was 16 years old.

Her first major international success in 1991, when she became World Champion in the 400 m in Tokyo. She then became the favourite for the Olympic 400 m title in 1992 in Barcelona which she went on to win, becoming the first Frenchwoman to win an athletics Olympic gold medal since 1968 when Colette Besson won the same event in Mexico City.

Four years later--again, as the defending 400 m World Champion--she entered in the 200 m at the Olympics in Atlanta. Surprisingly, she managed to win both events achieving a rare 200/400 m double gold medal. She won the 400 m in the Olympic record time of 48.25 seconds. Perec was the first athlete of either sex to win the 400 m title twice and to accomplish the 200/400 gold medal double at a non-boycotted Olympics; she completed her double 20 minutes before Michael Johnson matched the feat.

In addition to the Olympic and World titles, Pérec also won the European Championship 400 m individual and 4x400 m relay titles in Helsinki in 1994.

The 1996 two Olympic titles were Pérec's last international titles prior to the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. She was set to compete against Australia's Cathy Freeman in those Olympics, but just before the Games Pérec left the Olympic village in controversy and did not compete. She had been harassed by the Australian press since her arrival in Sydney. Whilst flying home to France, she and her boyfriend Anthuan Maybank sought refuge in Singapore.

The pair were later involved in a scuffle with an Australian cameraman when they arrived at Changi airport. After being quizzed by police over 11 hours, they were released without charge on the orders of Singapore's attorney general Chan Sek Keong. Television footage showed Maybank hitting the cameraman, who was taken to hospital for a check-up.

Australia's Channel Nine news director Paul Fenn said: "It was extraordinary behaviour. Maybank was hitting our cameraman in the head."

External links

• BBC Sport 21/9/2000:Perec out of Olympics:

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Last updated on Friday February 08, 2008 at 03:28:50 PST (GMT -0800)
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