Hounded, stalked, threatened — Marie-Jose Perec takes off 36 hours before her race

The 32-year-old, who has been the subject of hostile press reports here as she prepared for her mouthwatering clash with home heroine Cathy Freeman in the 400m, left for an unknown destination with her German coach Wolfgang Meier and boyfriend Anthuan Maybank.

"Marie-Jose Perec decided to leave after she was threatened on Wednesday in her hotel room," her agent Annick Avierinos told AFP.

"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 Aussie press of hounding her and making her a virtual prisoner in her room, decided to flee as she felt she was in danger. However, Averinos refused to accept that it meant Perec – a two-time 400m Olympic champion and who also won the 200m title in 1996 – would not line-up for the first round heats on Friday.

"We will do everything we can so she runs," Averinos said. This was just the latest in an extraordinary couple of weeks for Perec – who has been dubbed Greta Garbo because of her intent to be left alone – as she has resorted to a website to communicate with the outside world. She took on the mantle of the latest celebrity to be hounded by the press and briefly went on the attack to explain why she would not meet with the press not even the more friendly French 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," she added.

Officials plead: Call now!

SYDNEY: French athletics chiefs pleaded to Marie-Jose Perec to call them, after thier star’s sudden take off. Confirming an AFP report that she had flown to Singapore, the head of the French delegation Michel Vial said: "She has not officially forfeited (the race) and we would like her to call us." Vial admitted that even if she returned Perec would be in hardly ideal shape – two eight-hour flights in 24 hours but Vial added "A plane can perform miracles all the same." Perec was booked to fly on to London – that would make it impossible for her to compete – but a spokesperson for Qantas airlines would not say if she had boarded the connecting flight.

… But lands straight into trouble
SINGAPORE: Marie-Jose Perec and boyfriend Anthuan Maybank have been questioned by police after an attack on an Australian cameraman at Singapore airport, police said. "Investigations show a scuffle took place between a freelance journalist and the companion of Miss Perec," a police spokesman said. More than nine hours after they were taken in for questioning, the French ambassador to Singapore Michel Filhol and the consul, Christine Gaudaire, arrived at the police station where they were being held.

Police said they were investigating a complaint of "voluntarily causing hurt" but no charges had yet been laid. The cameraman was taken to hospital for a checkup and Perec and Maybank were taken to the Bedok police station near the airport. "It was extraordinary behaviour," Channel Nine news director Paul Fenn told AFP. "Maybank was hitting our cameraman in the head." The cameraman was named as Kyme Hallion, an Australian freelance.

Perec and her entourage abruptly fled Sydney overnight after she claimed she had been threatened by a stalker in her hotel room where she was preparing for the Olympic Games. "She came out of the plane and went straight to an ATM (cash machine). Our cameraman starting taking pictures, she saw him and her fiancee came over and laid into him," said Fenn. "He went to the duty free strore and Maybank continued hitting him."