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Perec gives media the slip in France

By Super


Paris: Triple Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec returned home still running from the media on Friday after telling France's sports minister she had fled Sydney because she "cracked under the pressure of the Australian press."

The minister, Marie-George Buffet, spoke to the athlete by telephone from Sydney while Perec was in Singapore on Thursday awaiting a flight to France.

On arrival at 6:20 a.m. (0420 GMT) in Paris, Perec and her companion Anthuan Maybank were ushered away by Air France personnel without passing the normal customs checks and the reporters waiting for her at Charles de Gaulle airport.

An airline employee at the baggage claim area picked up three bags for the couple, who were questioned by police in Singapore after a scuffle with an Australian cameraman there.

Perec, who won the 400 metres title at the 1992 Barcelona Games and scored a 200 and 400 metres double four years later in Atlanta, fled Sydney two days before her long-awaited showdown with Australia's Cathy Freeman in the 400 metres.

She said a man had forced his way into her room and threatened her. "The minister asked her if she needed any help. She (Perec) was very upset," Buffet's spokesman said.

"Marie-Jose Perec explained that she had cracked under the pressure of the Australian press. She said she would explain herself in a few days, after she has rested."

(c) Reuters Limited.

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 17:48 [IST]
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