For the operation “Sport has a heart” in favor of Restos du cœur and in collaboration with the Stars of Sport, Marie-José Pérec sings.
The three-time Olympic champion in the 400m and 200m in Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996) pushes the song with Nikola Karabatic, Corinne Deacon, Guy Forget or Laurent Blanc on the hymn of the Restaurants.
Almost a quarter of a century after her double in gold in Atlanta, the greatest French athlete in history talks to us about the pandemic, solidarity, song and her hopes that the Tokyo Olympics can be held.
Why are you participating in the “Sport has a Heart” operation?
MARIE-JOSÉ PÉREC
.
The first right of a human being is to be fed so as never to be hungry again.
Knowing that people in France have no food revolts me and I cannot stand idly by, it is impossible.
So I don't even ask myself the question of whether I should do something to fight against insecurity, poverty and hunger.
It's just okay to do it, especially in these times of very complicated crisis for everyone.
If you think about it, no one is safe from going hungry one day.
What do you do on a daily basis to fight poverty?
Simple things: when people come out of the supermarket when people organize food drives, ask for cans, I give every time and my 10 year old son insists we do it.
Is Les Restos du cœur an association that particularly speaks to you?
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
I think it is the most famous association of all that has been with us for 35 years.
She mostly talks about something that is very important and touches us: hunger, always her.
READ ALSO>
Restos du cœur: the new faces of volunteering
What do you feel listening to the song of the Restos?
It's a song that says things.
It gives the peach, gives off emotion and gives me goosebumps.
It also forces me to do something, to move around to help others.
It came out in 1985 when I arrived in France.
She has always been with me.
It's part of all of us, isn't it?
When it was necessary to sing the anthem of the restaurants, nobody had to learn the lyrics because everyone knows them, it's surprising.
Do you like to sing?
Yes, I like it.
I know I don't have a beautiful voice, but too bad.
When we sing, we forget who we are.
There, it was even easier because we were in a group with other athletes.
Singing together for this great cause is a great message from the world of sport.
How are you going through the Covid-19 pandemic?
We must already say to ourselves that we have no choice and that we must therefore cross it as best as possible, respecting the instructions and being careful.
What else can we do?
"The song of the Restos gives the peach, gives off emotion and gives me goosebumps", estimates Marie-Jo Pérec. / DR / Manon Mainenti-Merie
Personally, what are you doing to make the most of it?
We took care of my family (
Editor's note: his companion is Sébastien Foucras, the co-founder of Les Etoiles du Sport
).
Unfortunately, I often hear people say that they are going in circles.
We have managed to live with ourselves;
I am not saying by falling back on us, it is even quite the opposite and the danger to be avoided.
This crisis is a time that also allows us to refocus on the things that are essential to know the people we love, the family and the children.
This is what is most important in our lives.
It's a moment that also allows everyone to reflect on their own existence, right?
Yes, absolutely.
The crisis, the confinement made it possible to put things in their place.
With my family and like everyone else, we took the opportunity to play sports, play games, cook a whole lot of things that we don't do in ordinary times.
We take time to be between us.
Will you get vaccinated?
I'm not a risky person and I'm not yet 75 (
smiles
), so I'm not one of the priority people.
It is obviously very important to vaccinate the elderly, all those at risk.
Afterwards, I tell myself that it may also be necessary to count collective immunity to get out of this pandemic one day.
If you were still an athlete, how would you live with the uncertainty surrounding the organization of the Tokyo Games?
We former athletes, when we talk to each other, we say to ourselves that we were lucky not to experience such a situation because it is unbearable.
Champions who dream of a medal or participation in the Tokyo Olympics have no clear horizon, no perspective.
If there are no Games in Tokyo, it is a whole generation of champions who will go by the wayside, swept away.
READ ALSO>
Tokyo Olympics: "We can feel a psychosis rising", assures Laurent Tillie
Do you feel distress in some?
Yes, even if everyone reacts to events in their own way.
Some athletes have only had this Olympic goal forever and if we take them away, it's terrible.
They have worked their whole lives for this moment.
They made a choice of existence and we will perhaps take that away from them because of a virus and a decision that ultimately no one can do anything about.
It's hard, very hard.
What would you do in place of the athletes preparing for these Games?
Me in their place, I will continue to train by going to the end of things.
They must be done as best as possible to get to the Games, if they take place, in the best conditions.
There is nothing else to do anyway.
Do you think the Games will take place this summer?
I hope so much for the athletes and for Japan, which has spent so much money to host them.
Afterwards, we'll have to see how to organize them so that everything goes well: with or without spectators, in a completely hermetic bubble?
From January 24 to February 14, a large solidarity raffle is organized and allows you to win a collector's t-shirt and a meeting with one of the sportsmen involved.
100% of the proceeds will be donated to Restos du cœur.
Information on the Etoiles du sport website.
