Triple Olympic athletics champion, Marie-José Pérec remains a star of world athletics and has written one of the most beautiful pages of French sport with her medals in Barcelona and Atlanta.
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“ Marie-José Pérec is an example for all French people, not just those who practice athletics. We must tell the younger generations about his journey. All sports and all countries combined, she truly left her mark on the history of the Olympic Games. She embodies surpassing oneself », Confides Jean-François Lamour, double Olympic saber champion, standard bearer of the French delegation in 1992 and former Minister of Sports.
The one we nickname “ the gazelle » really marked his era. His victories in Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996) remain forever etched in the collective memory. Just like his hasty departure from Olympic Games from Sydney in 2000 to escape media pressure. We will never know if she had the possibility of defending her 400 meter title for her fourth participation in the Olympics. “ I’m devastated », had confessed the runaway champion in the columns of The Team. She had her departure explained, via his agent, by a verbal attack suffered in front of his hotel room.
Mohamed Ali, his grandmother’s idol
A year before her first Olympic Games in Spain, Marie-Josée Pérec won gold at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In Barcelona, on the lap of the track, despite a bad start, she finished the race in 48”83, coming up against a strong opponent, Olga Bryzgina, reigning Olympic champion. “ In this race, I don’t know why, I used the shadows of the girls on the ground. I saw that there was a shadow that was getting closer and closer “, she commented a few years later. The shadow has not caught up with her. For the first time, she broke the 49-second barrier and won her first Olympic title.
Four years later, while training in the United States under the leadership of John Smith, “ The divine” wins two gold medals by doubling 200 meters and 400 meters. She had been designated flag bearer of the French delegation for the opening ceremony. That day, Mohamed Ali, his grandmother’s idol, lit the Olympic cauldron.
In Atlanta, Marie-José Pérec feels herself growing wings. She established a new Olympic record in the 400 meters (48”25), still unbeaten. The Frenchwoman remains the first athlete, men and women combined, to have won the 400 meters title in two consecutive Olympic Games.
“ She gave another dimension to women’s sport »
“ Marie-José Pérec is a source of inspiration. It represents the difficulty of high-level sport in all its forms. She gave another dimension to women’s sport by being on the front page of magazines. Marie-José Pérec has her place in the history of world athletics “, says Stéphane Caristan, former hurdler, today.
Triple Olympic champion and double world champion, the sprinter ended her international career in 2000 in Sydney. She announced that she would hang up her pointe shoes for good on June 7, 2004. Two decades later, she is an ambassador for Paris 2024. On July 26, the world athletics icon could well light the Olympic cauldron.
“ Over time, I became aware of the magnitude of my journey. I am proud of myself », breathes Marie-José Pérec, with an embarrassed smile which once again marks her shyness and humility.
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