[6] It took another 23 years before Salwa Eid Naser, in October 2019, surpassed her mark to demote Pérec to fourth in the list of world's fastest-ever female 400-metre sprinters.

In 1997, she shifted to the 200 metres but withdrew at the semi-finals stage in the World Championships that year after sustaining a thigh muscle injury while warming up.

Pérec claimed that she had been threatened and insulted several times since arriving in Australia and that the local press, who were supporting Australian athlete Cathy Freeman, had been trying to sabotage her chances of winning 400 metres gold.

[12][18] Pérec enrolled in the top French business school ESSEC and graduated in 2007 with a Master's in Sports Management.

[21] Pérec participated in the French reality music competition Mask Singer as the Red Panther, performing Stromae's "Papaoutai" and Angèle's "Balance ton quoi" before being eliminated in the first episode.

On 9 October 2013, she was awarded the Officier de la Légion d'honneur by French President François Hollande in the Élysée Palace.