© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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COMPETITION  RETRO |
 Tokyo 1991 - PÉREC THE "GAZELLE" LEAPS TO FAME
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
Marie-José Pérec leapt from relative obscurity to instantaneous international stardom at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo. Her gold medal-winning run in the 400m marked the beginning of a five-year reign over the event, during which the French ‘gazelle’ picked up consecutive Olympic golds.
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Pérec first came to the attention of the French athletics establishment in May 1988 when, as an unknown 19-year-old, she caused a sensation by beating Marie-Christine Cazier over 100m in a meeting at Fort-de-France. Cazier was France’s leading sprinter at the time and the French newspaper L’Equipe jumped on the story, describing the leggy newcomer as "the new gazelle” in reference to Wilma Rudolph, triple Olympic champion in Rome in 1960 (100m, 200m and 4x100 m). The pseudonym stuck, and when Pérec began making a name for herself on the international stage, the world’s media were soon waxing lyrical about the girl who would not look out of place on the African savannah.
1989 – first record, first title
Stepping up to 400m were inspired moves. A quarter-final spot in the 200m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics was followed by a first gold, again in the 200m at the 1989 European Indoor Championships in The Hague. A new French record over 400m later that year in 51.05 was the most encouraging sign of things to come though, as was a ‘win’ over Ana-Fidelia Quirot, who had gone three years unbeaten at the one lap discipline. That success at the World Cup in Barcelona in a time of 50.30 was short-lived as Pérec was disqualified for stepping into another lane, but the new girl from Guadeloupe had staked her claim to future glory.
1991: Make way for Marie-Jo
A bronze medal at the European Championships in Split in 1990 was further confirmation of her growing potential, but it was the start of the 1991 season that Pérec really made people stand up and notice. Under new coach Jacques Piasenta, the girl from Basse-Terre began by lowering her French record in her first race of the season (50.53), before smashing it in the European Cup in Frankfurt. Her new time of 49.32 was too hot for European champion Grit Breuer – and Pérec was suddenly a serious world championships medal contender.
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The first French woman world champion
Marie-José Pérec secured her place in French athletics history in Japan. A perfectly paced run through the heats (51.00), quarter-final (50.61) and semi-final (49.94) took her to the final, where a superb time of 49.13 gave her victory ahead of Grit Breuer and Sandra Myers. At the age of 23 Pérec had become the first French woman to pick up a world championship gold. “It’s the start of a dream that will end, I hope, in Barcelona”, she told L’Equipe after the race – and how wrong she was. Gold in Barcelona was a mere milestone on the way to Atlanta, where yet more glory awaited the elegant French gazelle.
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