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Perec out of Olympics after stalker scare
ATTENTION - ADDS Perec landed in Singapore /// = = SYDNEY, Sept 21 (AFP) - France's triple Olympic champion Marie-Jose Perec rocked the Sydney Games Thursday by fleeing Australia and a much hyped clash with Cathy Freeman after being threatened in her hotel room, her main sponsor said. "Because of this unfortunate incident Marie-Jose has decided to withdraw from ... competition," Reebok said in a statement. "Marie-Jose has been under a great deal of pressure and yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) she was harrassed in her hotel room by an unidentified man who forced his way into her room and threatened her." Perec left the country on an overnight flight from Melbourne to Singapore from where she will fly to London. Qantas officials in Singapore confirmed she had landed in Singapore. "She was here this morning," an official said, although it was unclear whether she boarded her 7.40 a.m. onward flight to London. The French star was due to begin the defence of her Olympic 400m crown on Friday with the showdown with Freeman, the world champion and Atlanta silver medallist, expected to be one of the highlights of the Games. Perec, 32, won the 200-400 metres double four years ago in Atlanta and the 400 metres title in 1992 in Barcelona. Her agent Annick Avierinos had earlier told AFP Perec was spooked by the hotel incident and it had proved the last straw. "Marie-Jose Perec decided to leave after she was threatened on Wednesday in her hotel room," Avierinos said. "A man came to her room on Wednesday saying he had a package for her. "When she realised he had nothing for her she asked him to go away but the man kicked at the door so he could enter her bedroom," Averinos added. Perec, who has accused the Australian press of hounding her and making her a virtual prisoner in her room since she arrived in Sydney, then threatened to call the police but the man still refused to go. "I will find you wherever you go," the stalker told Perec before finally leaving. It was just the latest in an extraordinary couple of weeks for Perec -- who has been dubbed Greta Garbo because of her reclusive existence. She resorted to a website to communicate with the outside world, criticising the Australian media. "They just make up rumours and attack me at will," she said. "I have the impression that everything has been made up in order to destabilise me." Notoriously private, Perec had been training away from her team mates and was staying in a city hotel far from the athletes' village. French athletics president Philippe Lamblin said on Tuesday her training was going well and her body could stand up to her schedule. Perec has been racked by injury since being diagnosed shortly after the 1996 Games with the strength-sapping Epstein-Barr syndrome. She only made a belated comeback in Europe earlier this year. She was beaten into third place in a 400m Grand Prix event in England in June and has not raced since, entering and withdrawing from race after race. Freeman has beaten here only once, at a Europena invitational just weeks after their Atlanta showdown. Her biggest threat is now expected to come from Mexico's Ana Guevara, Britain's emerging Katherine Merry and America's Latasha Colander-Richardson.
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