Trackster Perec Leaves Sydney

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 21, 2000 -- Marie-Jose Perec, a three-time Olympicchampion so reclusive and mysterious she’s been dubbed the “GretaGarbo of athletics,” fled the Sydney Games and a chance at historyto fulfill her wish of being left alone.

She could run, but she couldn’t hide.

Perec, two-time defending champion in the 400-meter track eventand a rival to favorite Cathy Freeman in the 400, flew to Singapore afterclaiming that a man forced his way into her room and threatenedher. She left one day before Friday’s first-round heats in herevent.

In Singapore, Perec and her companion were questioned by policefollowing a scuffle with a television cameraman awaiting theirarrival.

This much was clear: Only Perec knows for sure what her plansare.

Was She Harrassed?

“She hasn’t been officially excluded from the team,” saidMichel Vial, head of the French Olympic delegation. “The teamstill hopes she can come to compete in Sydney. At this point, beingin Singapore, it is very improbable that she will compete. But sheis still officially entered. Things are possible with planes.”

Denise Kaigler, spokeswoman for Perec’s chief sponsor, Reebok,said earlier that Perec would not compete in the games. She latersaid it was possible Perec would compete.

Kaigler said Perec left the country after being accosted inSydney.

“Marie-Jose has been under a great deal of pressure, andyesterday afternoon she was harassed in her hotel room by anunidentified man who forced his way into her room and threatenedher,” Kaigler said.

Police and a hotel official said they had no knowledge of suchan incident.

Airport Altercation

The bizarre tale became stranger as Perec, who in 1996 becamethe second woman to sweep the 200 and 400 gold medals in anOlympics, left the country.

Perec’s companion, former American 400-meter runner AnthuanMaybank, got into an altercation at Singapore’s airport that sentTV cameraman Kyme Hallion — a freelancer working for Sydney’sChannel Nine — to a hospital.

“He came at me like a raging bull,” Hallion told TheAssociated Press in an interview from his Singapore office.

Channel Nine showed the incident on its evening newscast. Aman’s voice is heard amid scuffling sounds, saying: “Listen to me.If you come near me again, I will hurt you. Give me the tape.”

Singapore police spokesman Phillip Mah said Perec and Maybankwere questioned by police “to assist investigations into a case ofvoluntarily causing hurt.” No arrests were made.

Albert Tjoeng, spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority ofSingapore, confirmed that police were investigating an incident atthe airport involving Perec, her companion and a cameraman.

“We were shooting them from about 25 meters away as they walkedacross the airport inside,” Channel Nine news director Paul Fenn said. “Miss Perec saw ourcameraman, pointed him out to her [companion] and he turned on hisheels and the first thing he did was belt the cameraman behind theears.”

Mystery Woman

Perec, 32, had hoped to win an unprecedented third straight400-meter gold in the Olympics.

She had been a mystery woman in Sydney, where she refusedto train with the French team and hid from reporters. Her onlypublic appearance was her arrival at the Sydney Airport, where shesprinted past cameramen.

The media pressure intensified the further she withdrew.

Vial said nobody in the French delegation had spoken to Perec inthree or four days.

“It’s a shame that she was not able to become part of thedelegation at our training camp or at the Olympic village,” hesaid. “Maybe she made a bad decision by not staying in thevillage, where she would have been more secure.”

Says She’s Scared

Perec’s escape became the talk of the Olympics. EvenInternational Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranchwas asked about her whereabouts.

“I don’t know where she is,” Samaranch said with a smile.“She’s not in my office.”

Freeman has not lost at 400 meters in more than three years buthas lost seven of her nine career races against Perec. She was nottalking to reporters Thursday. But Australian track and field coachChris Wardlaw said Perec probably wasn’t ready to run.

“I think if she’s not here she obviously wasn’t in shape, so itwouldn’t have been a great race anyway,” Wardlaw said. “She’s theathlete of the decade in the ’90s, a truly great athlete, andobviously in her mind she wasn’t going to be able to compete up tothat level.”

Perec, nicknamed “The Gazelle” because of her fluid,long-legged running style, won the 1996 Atlanta Games gold in 48.25seconds — an Olympic record. But she has not won a 400-meter racesince then.

She has been tormented by Epstein Barr syndrome, a rare virusthat causes chronic fatigue, and dropped out of three races thissummer in Europe that would have pitted her against Freeman.

Perec’s only public comments have come on her Web site. OnTuesday, she wrote: “The games have hardly begun and already Iwish they would end because I’m so scared. I simply have to makesure my training place stays secret. That’s the main thing, is tostay relaxed.”