Marie-José Pérec (born 9 May 1968) is a retired French track and field sprinter who specialised in the 200 and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

Athletics career

Pérec won the 1991 World Championships 400 metres title in Tokyo and repeated the feat at the 1995 World Championships in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. She was also the 400 metres champion at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. She entered the 200 metres and 400 metres events at the 1996 Olympic Games in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and won both, thus achieving the second-ever Olympic 200 metres/400 metres

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

double, after

Valerie Brisco-Hooks Valerie Ann Brisco-Hooks (born July 6, 1960, in Greenwood, Mississippi) is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympian to win gold ...

in Los Angeles 1984. Pérec won the 400 metres title in an

Olympic record Olympic records are the best performances in a specific event in that event's history in either the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games, including: * Archery (list) * Alpine skiing (records recognized only by FIS) * Athletics (list) ...

time of 48.25 seconds, which also ranked her as the third fastest woman of all time. It took 23 years until 2019 before Salwa Eid Naser surpassed her mark to push Pérec to number 4 of all time. In addition to her Olympic and World titles, Pérec also won the 400 metres title and was a part of the gold medal-winning 4 × 400 metres relay team at the 1994 European Championships in Helsinki. The two 1996 Olympic titles were Pérec's last international titles. In 1997 Pérec shifted to the 200 metres but withdrew at the semi-finals in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

that year and barely raced at all in 1998 and 1999. Having not run a 400 metres race since 1996, Pérec began her Olympic title defense by finishing third in Nice, behind eventual Olympic silver and bronze medalists

Lorraine Graham Lorraine Fenton (born Lorraine Graham on 8 September 1973 in Manchester) is a retired Jamaican athlete who specialized in the 400 metres. Career Her career highlight came when she won the Olympic silver medal in 2000, being the first Jamaican ...

and

Katharine Merry Katharine Merry (born 21 September 1974) is an English former sprinter. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was the fastest woman in the world over 400 m in 2001, with her career best of 49.59 seconds. Sh ...

. It was the last significant race Pérec ran. On 22 September 2000, she pulled out of the 200 metres and 400 metres events of the

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, several days before they were due to begin. Pérec claimed that she had been threatened and insulted several times since arriving in Australia and that the Australian press, who were supporting Australian athlete

Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set ...

, had been trying to sabotage her chances of winning the gold medal in the 400 metres. Pérec trained in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, with the HSI track team and is listed as a legend on the team's page.

Life after retirement from athletics

Pérec enrolled in the top French business school

ESSEC The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...

and graduated in 2007 with a Master's in Sports Management. Pérec is a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of more than 70 famous elite athletes committed to promoting peace in the world through sports, created by

Peace and Sport Peace and Sport, also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport" is a neutral and independent organization based in the Principality of Monaco and under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Peace and Sport work in areas acros ...

, a

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

-based international organization. On 21 October 2012, Pérec was elected president of the Ligue Régionale d'Athlétisme de la Guadeloupe, the governing body for athletics in Guadeloupe. Pérec participated in the French reality music competition ''Mask Singer'' as the Panthère, performing

Stromae Paul van Haver (; born 12 March 1985), better known by his stage name Stromae (), is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attenti ...

's " Papaoutai" and

Angèle Angèle is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Angèle (singer) (born Angèle Van Laeken, 1995), Belgian singer * Angèle Dola Akofa Aguigah (born 1955), Togolese archaeologist * Angèle Arsenault (1943–2014), Canadian-Acadi ...

's "Balance ton quoi" before being eliminated in the first episode.

Family

Pérec gave birth to her first child, a son named Nolan, on 30 March 2010. Pérec's partner Sébastien Foucras is the father of the child.

Awards

Pérec was chosen as the French Champion of Champions in 1992 and 1996 by the French sports daily ''

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, ...

''. On 9 October 2013, Pérec was awarded the

Officier de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

by French President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...

in the

Élysée Palace The Élysée Palace (french: Palais de l'Élysée; ) is the official residence of the President of the French Republic. Completed in 1722, it was built for nobleman and army officer Louis Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, who had been appointed Gover ...

. Just before presenting the insignia to Pérec during the award ceremony, Hollande described her as "one of the most brilliant athletes in the history of French athletics". Pérec had received the

Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

in 1996. On 16 November 2013, Pérec was inducted into the

IAAF Hall of Fame The IAAF Hall of Fame was established by the International Association of Athletics Federations (since 2019: ''World Athletics'') in 2012. It is intended to honor individuals who have made valuable contributions in the sport of athletics both inter ...

Personal bests

*Rankings outside the brackets are world rankings *Rankings inside the brackets are European *FR = French record *OR = Olympic record

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Perec, Marie-Jose 1968 births Living people Black French sportspeople French female sprinters Olympic athletes of France Olympic gold medalists for France Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Guadeloupean female sprinters French people of Guadeloupean descent Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Officiers of the Légion d'honneur European champions for France Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners Olympic female sprinters People from Basse-Terre