He said: 'I don't have any problem about being accused of being blatantly in favour of getting
Cathy Freeman in the team.
Olympic champion
Cathy Freeman, pictured winning in Sydney, is looking over her shoulder after Katharine Merry's storming form
You have to run as the Olympics unfortunately do not wait for anyone and that includes
Cathy Freeman.
That could be when she races world champion
Cathy Freeman at Crystal Palace on August 2.
Sporting stars of
Cathy Freeman's stature - moral as well as athletic - come along once in a generation, if that.
Perec, who had been preparing for a 400m showdown with world champion
Cathy Freeman later this week, has refused all media interview requests and snubbed other team members in Sydney.
The latest victory means she has beaten every main contender for the Olympic title barring Australia's
Cathy Freeman who last week registered a 49.56sec success in Lausanne for the fastest time in the world this year.
OLYMPIC 400 metres champion
Cathy Freeman has resumed training, but the Australian star has been warned to take it easy or risk blowing her chances at the Commonwealth Games.
Australian 400m runner
Cathy Freeman holds the Olympic torch surrounded by falling water at the end of the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Games.
Despite being delighted with her fourth consecutive 400 metres win of the season, in which she has now beaten all of the expected Sydney gold medal contenders except favourite
Cathy Freeman of Australia, Dunchurch's Merry has no intention of underestimating Perec.
Along with
Cathy Freeman in Sydney 2000, Ben Johnson's explosive (if short-lived) 100 metres gold in Seoul and a few others, Paula's track side row with husband Gary Lough last year after she finished in her usual fourth place in Edmonton is one of modern running's great memories.
Birchfield's British No 1 Katharine Merry says her 400 metres clash with
Cathy Freeman in today's British Grand Prix will be a rehearsal worthy of the fast-approaching Olympic Games final.