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Did Perek beat Cathy Freeman in the 2000 olympics?
Executive summary
Cathy Freeman won the women’s 400 metres at the Sydney 2000 Olympics in 49.11 seconds and did not lose that final to Marie-José Pérec or anyone named “Perek”; Pérec had won the 1996 gold and was the rival often discussed before Sydney but did not contest the 2000 final [1] [2] [3]. Contemporary and retrospective accounts uniformly record Freeman as the Olympic champion in Sydney and celebrate her victory before a crowd of about 112,000 [4] [3].
1. The basic fact: Freeman was the 2000 Olympic 400m champion
Every primary retrospective and official result in the provided reporting confirms Cathy Freeman crossed the line first in the women’s 400m final at Sydney 2000, timed at 49.11 seconds, and is recorded as the Olympic champion for that event [4] [1] [3].
2. Who was the expected rival — and what happened to her
Marie-José Pérec of France was the headline rival because she had beaten Freeman for Olympic gold in 1996 and set an Olympic record in Atlanta; media coverage before Sydney anticipated a high-profile showdown. That anticipated head‑to‑head did not occur: Pérec left the Sydney Games amid reports of harassment and did not run in the 400m final, so she did not beat Freeman in that race [2].
3. The name confusion: “Perek” vs. Pérec
Available sources consistently use the spelling “Pérec” (Marie-José Pérec) when discussing Freeman’s 1996 rival; none of the provided material mentions someone spelled “Perek” beating Freeman at Sydney 2000. Therefore the claim that “Perek beat Cathy Freeman in the 2000 Olympics” is not supported by the available reporting and likely reflects a misspelling or misunderstanding of Pérec’s name [2] [3].
4. Contemporary reaction and significance of Freeman’s win
Reporting at the time and later commemorations emphasise the scale and symbolism of Freeman’s victory — lighting the Olympic cauldron in the opening ceremony and then winning gold before an estimated 112,000-strong crowd made her performance a defining national moment for Australia [3] [5] [6]. Commentators and historians describe the night as one of the greatest in athletics history and place Freeman’s run at the centre of Sydney 2000’s legacy [3] [7].
5. Results detail and times
Official results recorded on the Olympics site list Freeman’s winning time as 49.11 seconds; other medal placings and times are also recorded in the results summary. Freeman’s 49.11 in Sydney was slower than her personal best of 48.63, which she set while finishing second to Pérec in Atlanta 1996 [4] [2] [1].
6. Why the myth might arise
Two factors in the sources help explain how a mistaken claim could spread: first, Pérec’s dominance in 1996 and the billed rivalry leading into Sydney made her the obvious name to (mis)associate with any dramatic 400m storyline [2]; second, Pérec’s dramatic withdrawal from Sydney amid controversy is widely noted and can create memory distortions about who raced whom and who won [2]. The provided reporting does not show any source claiming Pérec (or any “Perek”) beat Freeman in Sydney 2000 [2] [3].
7. Limitations and closing verification
All factual assertions above are drawn from the supplied sources: official Olympic results and contemporary/historic coverage [4] [3] [1] [2]. Available sources do not mention anyone named “Perek” beating Freeman at Sydney 2000; if you have a different source or spelling in mind, provide it and I will re-check against the reporting you supply [2].
Summary conclusion: Cathy Freeman won the 400m final at Sydney 2000; Marie-José Pérec — the 1996 champion and Freeman’s most cited rival — did not compete in the Sydney final, and no provided source supports the claim that anyone named “Perek” beat Freeman at the 2000 Olympics [4] [2] [3].