She entered the 200metres and 400metres events at the 1996 Atlanta Games and won both,[2] achieving the second-ever Olympic 200metres/400metres gold medal double,[5] after Valerie Brisco-Hooks in Los Angeles 1984.[9][10] Pérec won the 400metres title in an Olympic record time of 48.25 seconds,[3] which ranked her as the third-fastest woman of all time.[6] It took another 23 years before Salwa Eid Naser, in October 2019, surpassed her mark to demote Pérec to fourth in the list of world's fastest-ever female 400-metre sprinters.[3][11]
In addition to her Olympic and World titles, Pérec won the 400metres title and was part of the gold medal-winning 4×400metres relay team at the 1994 European Championships in Helsinki.[12] The two 1996 Olympic golds were Pérec's last international titles. In 1997, she shifted to the 200metres but withdrew at the semi-finals stage in the World Championships that year after sustaining a thigh muscle injury while warming up.[6][13] She was diagnosed with glandular fever in March 1998, and the long recovery forced her to take time out from competitions until the following year.[6][13]
On 8July 2000, having not run a 400metres race since 1996, Pérec began her Olympic title defence by finishing third in Nice (at the Nikaia meeting of the 2000 IAAF Grand Prix), behind eventual Olympic silver and bronze medalists Lorraine Graham and Katharine Merry.[14] This was the last significant race Pérec took part in. On 22September 2000, she pulled out of the 200metres and 400metres events of the 2000 Sydney Games, several days before they were due to start. Pérec claimed that she had been threatened and insulted several times since arriving in Australia and that the local press, who were supporting Australian athlete Cathy Freeman, had been trying to sabotage her chances of winning 400metres gold.[15][16]
Pérec trained in Los Angeles with the HSI track team and is listed as a legend on the team's page.[17] She officially retired from competitive athletics in June 2004 at the age of 36.[12][18]
Life after retirement from athletics
Pérec enrolled in the top French business school ESSEC and graduated in 2007 with a Master's in Sports Management.[18]
She is a member of the 'Champions for Peace' club,[19] a group of more than 70 famous elite athletes committed to promoting peace in the world through sports, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organisation.[20]
Pérec participated in the French reality music competition Mask Singer as the Red Panther, performing Stromae's "Papaoutai" and Angèle's "Balance ton quoi" before being eliminated in the first episode.[22]
