Patrick Vignal (Reuters)
7 March 2000 - Rostock, Germany - Marie-Jose Perec has fled the California sun in favour of a freezing Baltic port in her quest for a third successive Olympic 400 metres title.
Haunted by poor health for the best part of the past two years, France's troubled one-lap queen has said goodbye to American guru John Smith and embarked on an hazardous journey.
The elegant Guadeloupe sprinter and her new coach, Wolfgang Meier, agree they have taken a chance. "It's a gamble," said Meier, the husband and former mentor of East German Marita Koch, who still holds the 400 metres world record. "It is impossible to say whether we will succeed but it's a formidable challenge for both of us."
Perec was in a more upbeat mood: "Of course I believe I can win in Sydney. If I had any doubts, I wouldn't be here."
Meier sounded a cautious note: "We only have 23 weeks. That's very, very short. It's a thin line we're walking on. If ever she gets injured or if anything goes wrong, we can forget about the whole thing."
The sleek Frenchwoman is perfectly aware of the irony. In overt references to the drug regime employed by East Germany, Perec has often claimed to be the fastest clean woman over one lap and once said it was impossible to run 47.60 – the mark set by Koch in 1985. "I didn't come here to hide and take drugs," she said. "I must be the cleanest French athlete. I have nothing to be ashamed of and I don't have to justify myself."
When Meier's phone rang last January, he had almost forgotten he had once offered to coach Perec. "It was in 1992, after her victory in Barcelona," he remembered. "Friends invited Marita to meet her and I came along. I told her that if she was looking for a good coach, she could call me. It was a joke, really."
Perec's version of the story is slightly different: "I asked him if he had given drugs to his athletes," she said. "He answered by telling me I should come and train with him to find out by myself."
Meier denied any involvement in the systematic doping policy conducted in East Germany when Koch was at her peak: "There were people responsible for politics. It was their job. Others were responsible for sports medicine. I'm a trainer, nothing else."
After a long chat with Meier, Perec went back to France to pack and on January 31, she moved into one of Rostock's few decent hotels with her boyfriend, American 400 metres runner Anthuan Maybank.
"She's staying, definitely" said Meier. "If she goes to Sydney, I'll go too. I've been invited already." Meier, 57, who stopped coaching shortly after German unification in 1990, is perhaps even more excited than Perec.
"In 1990, I had some offers from Germany but they offered me only 1,300 marks ($642) a month while western coaches were getting 8,000 marks ($3,953). I had my family to look after and I was not ready to do it as a hobby. I said no." He kept busy, working with his wife in the sports shop they bought together in Rostock. In 1997, after undergoing heart surgery, he started working on the rehabilitation of people with a heart condition through sport. "There are five of us in the programme, with 25 bypass operations between us," he said. "For me, it's just as important as training Marie-Jose."
Maybe himself a little more old-fashioned than Smith, Meier can only offer Perec a sports hall showing signs of wear. The 260 metre, straight indoor track would need resurfacing and the walls could use some paint.
"This is where we organised Marita's record," said Meier. "People here call it the Koch-odrome. It's as good as any stadium."
Once a week, Perec travels 110 kms south to Neubrandenburg to train on a proper oval and run longer distances. Grey Rostock, which used to be East Germany's largest harbour, is not exactly as glamorous as Hollywood, nor is it famous for its nightlife. That does not bother Perec. "That's not a problem," Meier said. "The main problem is I don't speak French, nor English, not a word. But Marita and our daughter do, and I do have a mobile phone."
Meier is a firm believer in hard work. "That's the only thing that counts," he said. "Fast times come from working hard for a long period of time and staying free of injury." Instead of five times a week, Perec now trains twice a day, every day.
"She's not complaining," said Meier, shrugging off suggestions that his pupil might be a little easy going for his spartan style.
After taking 400 metres gold in Barcelona and becoming the first woman to win an Olympic 200-400 double in Atlanta, Perec has little to prove. She is the only athlete to have retained an Olympic 400 metres title and her time of 48.25 set at the 1996 Games made her the third fastest woman ever over one lap. Hard times followed. In 1997, a thigh injury forced her out of the Athens world championships before the semifinals. The following year, she fought mononucleosis and did not compete at all.
In her few outings last year, she was well off the pace, clocking an embarrassing 11.16 seconds over 100 metres in her last race. "When you've done something exceptional, you want to do it again," Meier said."It's not about money. I'm not getting any for this. The only thing I asked for is if one of her sponsors could pay for a trip through Canada that we'd love to make in our mobile home. She said it could be done."
Meier said Koch said Perec should make her comeback from mid-June by entering grand prix meetings in St Denis and Rome. "Only then will we know where she stands."
Would he mind if Perec broke his wife's record?
"No, not really, and Marita wouldn't either. Records are made to be broken. But my mother-in-law, she would kill me. She said to me: 'My boy, you can make that girl run as fast as you want, but whatever you do, make sure it's not faster than 47.61."
