Sydney Olympics 2000: Cathy Freeman’s rival Marie-Jose Perec still silent on why she fled Australia
The full story surrounding Marie-Jose Perec shock decision to pull out of the Sydney Games before her 400m rematch with Cathy Freeman has never been explained. Selina Steele and Rory Mulholland track her down in Paris to uncover the truth.
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Mademoiselle La Chicken is still running foul of anything to do with the Sydney Olympics.
The ghosts that drove Marie-Jose Perec to flee Sydney and abandon the defence of the 400m title she had won at the two previous Olympics appear to still swirl around arguably France’s greatest athlete.
Twenty years ago, Perec turned her back on racing Australia’s darling Cathy Freeman just 48 hours before the opening heats of the Olympic 400 metres.
Earlier this month, while walking the streets of Paris, Perec again turned her back on Sydney — clearly indignant and refusing to discuss her no-show against Freeman.
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In her homeland, Perec remains a national hero, albeit a flighty one.
There are at least streets named after her — one in the small town of Louverné, 280km west of Paris and another in her native island of Guadeloupe.
There are also local sports stadiums named in her honour.
One in Aurillac in the southwest of France, one in Macon 400km southeast of Paris and one in Villiers-le-Bel in the northern suburbs of Paris.
Such is Perec’s popularity that France’s version of The Masked Singer last year featured the former athlete behind the Panther costume.
The notoriously reserved and private Perec has said she is thoroughly fulfilled in her role as a mother and only agreed to appear on The Masked Singer because her son Nolan, 10, is a fan.
She lives with Nolan and her partner Sebastien Foucras, a Winter Olympic medallist, just a 15-minute walk from Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees.
As she strolls through her suburb, neighbours stop for a chat and those seeing her for the first time congratulate on her career.
But in Australia, a nation obsessed by sport who treat their stars like deities, Perec will always be remembered for “doing the bolt”.
Under the gaze of 110,000 fans in Sydney’s Olympic Stadium and in front of a worldwide television audience of millions, Perec was to begin her quest for a third consecutive gold medal.
Instead, she famously fled after being reportedly threatened in her hotel room by an unidentified man.
She was later held for several hours by police officials at Singapore airport after her companion, US sprinter Anthuan Maybank, allegedly attacked a television cameraman.
After returning to Paris, Perec said at the time: “I have so much sadness inside me.
“I missed the most important rendezvous I ever had with myself. I cracked.
“That’s all. I cracked when I shouldn’t have cracked. I was defeated. I could only think of one thing: go, far away. Fast.”
Now 52, Perec still cuts an impressively fit figure.
In July, Perec attended a training week at Tignes, in the southeast of France, at a national elite sports centre along with several of France’s national team coaches, including rugby’s Fabien Galthie.
Perec looked relaxed and happy among France’s sporting elite in the mountain refuge.
Those that have worked with Perec at endorsed events describe her as “chic” (well mannered) and friendly, but those that agreed to speak asked for anonymity while others refused to comment.
Born in a small city called Basse-Terre, located in Guadeloupe, Perec is a member of an exclusive club that consists of only one other athlete, American hero Michael Johnson, to have won the 200m and 400m double at an Olympics.
But outside of wowing crowds with her high heels, little black dress and slicked back hair at the Elysee Palace for an Olympic bid celebration in 2018 after the Lima decision to award the 2024 to Paris, Perec has not been seen by the press at an Olympic organising event in the past three years.
Five years ago, speaking to Indian news service IBNLive.com, Perec was asked how tough it was it to pull out of the Sydney Games.
“I mean, the only thing I always say now is that it was bad,” said Perec, who was in India to promote the World TCS Marathon 10km run in Bangalore.
“For me, what only matters is that I don’t speak about this anymore because it doesn’t matter. I only want to talk about the positive things that I do in my life. I think they are beautiful.”
She felt she had been pushed out of Sydney.
“I think in sport you are not supposed to live what I lived there.
“This shouldn’t happen in sports and I went through so many things that no one can imagine. They did all that to ensure I leave the country.”
For the past month, calls to Perec and her media representative have not been returned.
And on the streets of Paris she remains silent.
It seems as if we may have wait for a few more Olympic cycles for answers.
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