Marie-Jose Perec was rewarded for her career as France’s greatest track athlete when she lit the Paris Olympics cauldron along with judo triple gold medallist Teddy Riner on Friday.
Between them, Perec and Riner have won six Olympic golds — and what better pairing for a Games that prides itself on gender parity among competitors?
Perec, 56, achieved the 200m/400m double at the 1996 Atlanta Games after winning 400m gold at Barcelona in 1992, earning her the nickname of “The Gazelle”.
In being awarded the ultimate honour at any Olympics, Perec beamed as she emulated her hero Muhammad Ali who lit the cauldron at Atlanta.
Riner, 35, who like Perec was born in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, will compete at his home Olympics aiming to win his fourth Olympic title.
The search for that gold “is what drives me, that is what I live for,” he said.
Riner won the heavyweight title at the 2012 and 2016 Games and then the team gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, adding bronze medals in 2008 and 2021.
As Perec lit the cauldron—which formed the base of a hot-air balloon that will float above the Tuileries Gardens during the Games—she could have been forgiven of thinking not only of Ali but also her maternal grandmother Eleonore.
When Marie-Jose was six in her birthplace of Guadeloupe, it was Eleanore who sparked her interest in the boxing legend.
“One day in 1974, she called us together, with my brothers, sisters and cousins to listen on the radio to a title fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman,” Perec told Le Monde in a rare interview in June.
“She listened to the radio permanently, but it was the only time she summoned all of us. When it was over, I saw her get up and dance joyously.”
Eleonore knew nothing about boxing but it was Ali and his personality that left an imprint on her.
“Muhammad Ali represented to her a saviour,” said Perec.
“She was interested by his personality, his manner of imposing himself on the world via sport, to always keep his head up.
“She always told us: ‘If you fall, you keep your head up.’”
Her moment with Riner in the spotlight on Friday also served as a reminder of France’s multi-cultural heritage at a time when France is grappling with a far-right which is a force in parliament.
The irony might be lost on Perec but it resonates for one of the darkest moments of her illustrious career—when she fled from a 400m rendezvous with Australia’s eventual champion Cathy Freeman, of Aboriginal heritage, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“Australia wanted to reconnect with its indigenous population,” she said.
“It was the moment for the big apology, Cathy Freeman had been chosen to light the Olympic flame.
“I was the grain of sand which must not get into the machine and upset the storyline the Australians had dreamed of.”
