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"Don't worry I'm ready for Sydney" Perec tells critics
PARIS, Aug 25 (AFP) - France's triple Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec on Friday dismissed concerns that she would not be fit for the Sydney Olympics because of lack of competition. Perec, who has only competed in two races this season and pulled out of the IAAF Golden League meet in Brussels this weekend after a disagreement with the organisers, told the French sports daily L'Equipe that she felt she was in top form in her bid for her third consecutive 400m title. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing," said Perec, who won 400m gold in 1992 and 1996 and the 200m crown in 1996, will not run again in public now until the Games. "Between now and the Olympic 400m final there are three races. I'll use each one to get into gear," said the 32-year-old, adding that before the Atlanta Games she only competed in three competitions. And she claimed that she had an excellent training session last Saturday which had her coach Wolfgang Meier euphoric. "It was a session where I didn't run the 400m but which reassured me completely concerning by potential and my performances," said Perec, adding that she was bidding to run less than 49 seconds in Sydney. Since the start of the season Perec has only run twice in competition - in the 200m in Lausanne on July 5 and the 400m in Nice three days later. The Guadeloupe-born athlete has been racked by injury since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. She was absent from the track for a long time after being diagnosed with the strength-sapping Epstein-Barr syndrome and has been fighting to recover her motivation.
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