Marie-José Pérec is a retired French track and field sprinter who specialised in the 200 and 400 metres and is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first recorded event at the ancient Olympic Games. The 200 m places more emphasis on speed endurance than shorter sprint distances as athletes predominantly rely on anaerobic energy system during the 200 m sprint. Similarly to other sprint distances, the 200 m begins from the starting blocks. When the sprinters adopt the 'set' position in the blocks they are able to adopt a more efficient starting posture and isometrically preload their muscles. This enables them to stride forwards more powerfully when the race begins and start faster.