The Frenchwoman, the ultimate symbol of the Olympic Games in France, had a great moment in Atlanta.
There are moments in a career that you can’t forget. For Marie-José Perec, seeing Mohamed Ali with the Olympic flame in Atlanta was a defining event in her career. Olympic champion in 1992 in Barcelona, double world champion in the 400m in 1992 and 1995, the Frenchwoman was at the top of her game before the Atlanta Olympics, where she would dazzle with her talent by winning two new gold medals. It was therefore in this context that, logically, Marie José Perec was the flag bearer for France in the United States.
In confidences for Canal +, the Frenchwoman returned to this opening ceremony, evoking the presence of Mohamed Ali. An unexpected and emotional moment in front of the boxing legend, sick and trembling, for the one who was nicknamed the “Gazelle” because of her very long legs.
While rumors suggest she will be there to light the Olympic cauldron, the latter proclaims her desire to be present at that moment just like Mohamed Ali in Atlanta. “It would be as strong as a medal. It would come full circle. And at the same time, I would become my grandmother’s little Mohamed Ali, because my grandmother, who is no longer here, was an admirer of Mohamed Ali during the Atlanta Games, in the city of Martin Luther King,” she said on Eurosport a few months ago.
When he died in 2016, she paid a vibrant tribute to the boxer. “A sports legend who is leaving. A sports legend but above all a legend of our century who knew how to fight against segregation and denounce the living conditions of blacks. This is much more important than a simple sporting victory. For us blacks, he was an example.”