Cathy Freeman rival Marie-Jose Perec’s secret desire to live in Australia

She famously fled these shores but Marie-Jose Perec has revealed Australia was once the place she wanted to escape to rather than from.

French superstar Marie-Jose Perec, who famously fled the Sydney Olympics, has made a surprise revelation – Australia was her fantasy island.

The country she once longed to escape to rather than from.

Perec was the centre of one of the most extraordinary Olympic stories of the century when, feeling harassed by media who were following her every move as Cathy Freeman’s main rival, she flew home from Sydney to Paris in a distressed state before the Games.

Freeman later won an iconic gold medal in the 400m as Perec, who had won gold medals in that event at Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996), watched from her home in France.

Marie Jose Perec edges Cathy Freeman in 400m final at the Atlanta Olympics.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist, who last week was voted the public’s most popular pick to light the Olympic flame on Friday, has claimed that as a young girl growing up on the French Caribbean island of Basse-Terre she fantasised about leaving her island and heading to Australia.

“I wanted to leave Guadeloupe, travel and go all the way to Australia, a country so far away from my little island where I felt stuck,’’ Perec has told the French newspaper Le Monde in a rare interview.

“I couldn’t see myself in a job. ‘What are we going to do with you?’ was the question my family kept asking me. I didn’t like school. In class, I spent my time looking out of the window, dreaming of being elsewhere, in nature.’’

Incredibly, the gifted athlete lacked confidence at school due to the growth spurt which later made her a super star.

Perec harboured a secret desire to live in Australia. Picture: Quentin Bertrand/Icon Sport

Perec is one of the favourites to light the Olympic Cauldron. Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

“I was already 1.75m tall, and that was a real handicap. My body had grown so fast that I didn’t know how to use it. I was always saying to my mother, ‘You made me wrong’.

“Throughout my teenage years, I hated being so tall and having such long arms and legs.’’

The Sydney incident is still a sensitive issue. In the extensive interview Perec reflected on her gold medal triumphs in Barcelona and Atlanta but never referenced the Sydney fiasco.

The last time she mentioned it publicly was in an interview with Agence France-Presse in January when she gave several telling quotes about the intimidation she felt.

Perec said she fled Australia because she sensed the nation wanted to make peace with its Indigenous population via Freeman and she was standing in their way.

“Australia wanted to reconnect with its Indigenous population,” she said. “It was the moment for the big apology, Cathy Freeman had been chosen to light the Olympic flame.

“I was the grain of sand which must not get into the machine and upset the storyline the Australians had dreamed of.”

Since retiring, Perec has acquired a degree in sports management, and appeared on the Masked Singer at the urging of her only son Nolan. She was eliminated in the first round.

Perec remains a mysterious but well-liked French icon who has a street named after her in the tiny town of Louverné west of Paris and three French sports stadiums carrying her name.

Originally published as Cathy Freeman rival Marie-Jose Perec’s secret desire to live in Australia