She is to date the only French athlete to have won three Olympic gold medals: one in Barcelona in 1992 and two in Atlanta in 1996. From her childhood in Guadeloupe to a career full of twists and turns, Marie-José Pérec tells her story in #MaParole.
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His life is worthy of a biopic. From her childhood in Guadeloupe, complexed by her size to the revelation of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Marie-Jo Pérec went through all physical and emotional states. A life of “roller coasters” that she evokes in #MaParole. The athlete is currently participating in an operation in favor of Restos du cœur.
► A Creole childhood
From her childhood, Marie-José Pérec has contrasting memories. Life was happy at the house where we listened to a lot of music. The family made up of his mother Josette, his uncle Georges and the grandmother called “granny” were very united. Her grandmother Eleonore, a vendor at the Basse-Terre market, always found time to take care of her somewhat rebellious granddaughter and to ensure her religious education.
At school, however, life quickly turned into a nightmare for Marie-José Pérec. Its immense size, its singularity put it aside. Her classmates laugh at her and the teachers find it hard to understand this tall, clumsy girl. She played sports for a year at the “black swan”, the Basse-Terre basketball club her sister had chosen, but she didn’t really like it.
A college PE teacher, Anne-Marie Soual, is the first to realize the athletic qualities of Marie-José Pérec. During a race she is “taped” by the performance of the girl. She enrolled him in a championship. Marie-Jo said yes without really seeing the point. Thanks to the perseverance of Anne-Marie Soual and the natural authority of “grandma”, Marie-José Pérec ends up participating in a race which allows her to be selected for the French school championships.
Two years later, the athlete joined INSEP, but things were not going very well. Impossible to get used to the coach, the atmosphere, in Paris. She begs her family to bring her back to Guadeloupe. Then, a few weeks later, she came back and, thanks to a friend, she joined François Pépin’s team at the PUC (Paris University Club).
♦ Marie-José Pérec 1/3
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► The three gold medals
From 1988, the athlete has a series of successes. Trained by a new coach, Jacques Piasenta in Créteil, she became world champion in the 400m in Tokyo in 1991, then won a gold medal again in the 400m at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. But with her coach, relations are explosive
A few months after the Barcelona Olympics, Marie-José Pérec decided to change it and go to the United States to follow John Smith’s program with sprinters like Ato Boldon or Maurice Greene. At first, the American coach did not want her. “Girls, it’s too much trouble“, he said. But the Guadeloupe has proven herself. She quickly adapts to California and the joyful atmosphere that John Smith reigns. She now considers this period as”one of the most beautiful of her life“.
In 1996, Marie-José Pérec paraded as the flag bearer of the French delegation to the Olympic Games in Atlanta. “There was enormous pressure on my shoulders“, she said. But despite this pressure, the athlete surprises everyone by achieving like Michael Johnson an incredible feat: the double over 400 m and 200 m at the Olympics. Two gold medals that she celebrated all the time. night.
Two years after the Atlanta Olympics, in 1998, Marie-José Pérec felt immense fatigue. Mononucleosis with cardiac complications is at the root of his serious health problems. She is hospitalized for two weeks and takes a long time to recover. She then decides to resume training. She gives up John Smith, whose group has grown considerably to choose a German coach, Wolfgang Meier. A choice that is both logical and surprising. He is the husband of Marita Koch, the world record holder in the 400 meters, a record contested by Marie-José Pérec herself during the Barcelona Olympics. Marie-José Pérec found herself in Rostock, formerly East Germany, to prepare for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
♦ Marie-José Pérec 2/3
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►The flight from Sydney
In Germany, Marie-José Pérec has only one goal: to prepare for the 2000 Olympics. But when she arrives in Sydney with her companion the American athlete Anthuan Maybank, things do not go as planned. Marie-José Pérec feels extreme pressure from the Australian press. She believes that the stake of the competition exceeded her completely. “Australia wanted Cathy Freeman of aboriginal descent to show the world reconciliation with her first people“, she writes in her biography.
Rather than face, as she always has, the athlete prefers to flee Sydney. During a stopover in Singapore, the press from around the world pursues her, to the point that her companion ends up fighting with a cameraman. This episode remains a particularly traumatic moment in Marie-Jo Pérec’s life. But her family – and especially her grandmother – remains very present with her. She then leaves for several months in the United States then in Guadeloupe where she tries to move on.
In 2002, Alain Bashung wrote In the process, a song that defends Marie-José Pérec. The athlete says he has listened to this song hundreds of times. “It made me feel good this song, and then I really liked this artist because he was like me a little skinned alive”. Marie-José Pérec resumes training in the hope of participating in the 2003 World Athletics Championships in Paris. But there she “freak out“by wanting too much muscle and must give up. A great disappointment for the athlete who decides to announce his retirement from sports in June 2004.
More than 15 years after putting an end to her career, Marie-Jo Pérec still meets people who remember her career as if it were yesterday. “In Paris, at least one or two people a day“, she said. In December 2020, Guadeloupe inaugurated a track connected to its name, a huge honor for the athlete for whom the butterfly island remains”the place where she feels best “.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyv_k5m2EG0
Marie-José Pérec is participating in this period of the coronavirus epidemic in fundraising in favor of Restos du cœur. Until February 14, a solidarity raffle organized by sports stars allows you to win a meeting with one of the committed athletes (including Marie-José Pérec) or a collector’s T-shirt. All proceeds are donated at the Restos du cœur.
♦ Marie-José Pérec 3/3
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Sound recording: Bruno Dessommes
To find all the episodes of #MaParole, click here.
Marie-José Pérec in 5 dates
♦ May 9, 1968
Born in Basse-Terre.
♦ August 1, 1996
Victory in the 200m at the Atlanta Olympics, her third gold medal.
♦ September 20, 2000
Hurried departure from Sydney.
♦ October 2002
Album release Imprudence by Alain Bashung with his song In the process dedicated to Marie-José Pérec.
♦30 mars 2010
Birth of his son Nolan.
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