this multiple choice question that has no correct answer

After a particularly difficult 2023 version of the general knowledge test a year ago, with a historically low average score, the organizers of the competition Miss France reviewed their copy. The teams led by Cindy Fabre and Frédéric Gilbert first reinstated multiple choice questions for the vast majority of questions asked. Only current affairs and the logic/mathematics section did not submit any suggested answers.

Before tackling the 64 questions of their test Thursday evening within the confines of their hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the 30 contenders for the title of Miss France 2025 took the dictation test counting for 6 of the 80 points. Note that for the mathematics and logic part, the candidates only had 30 seconds to answer each question.

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A question without a good answer about Marie-José Perec

But in the section devoted to sport, one of the seven multiple choice questions has no exact answer. Last summer, Marie-José Perec lit the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games held in Paris. “This athlete left her mark on the history of French sport because…”poses the general culture test by making four propositions.

The first, “She has held the Olympic record in the women's 400 meters since 1996”is no longer true since August 9 and the time achieved by the Dominican Marileidy Paulino in Paris. The second, “She is the first woman to become Olympic champion in the 400 meters”is not the right one either since Colette Besson had obtained gold in the discipline at the Mexico Olympics in 1968.

Triple Olympic champion Félicia Ballanger forgotten

The third, “She was the youngest medalist in the history of the Olympics”leaves no shadow of a doubt about its inaccuracy since Marie-José Perec was a medalist for the first time at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 at the age of 24. For men, Noël Vandernotte was 12 and a half when he won bronze in rowing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and, for women, Christine Caron was 16 when she won silver at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. .

There remains the fourth and last proposition supposed to be the correct answer: “She is the only French female athlete to be a triple Olympic champion”. Marie-José Perec won three gold medals at the Olympics, one in 1992 in Barcelona over 400 meters then two in 1996 in Atlanta over 200 and 400 meters. But she is not the only one to have this track record among women in France.

The cyclist Felicia Ballanger also has three Olympic titles to her credit: she was gold medalist in sprint in 1996 in Atlanta then in 2000 in Sydney. In Australia, she also reached the top of the podium in the 500 meters. The native of La Roche-sur-Yon is one of the most successful French sportswomen. In addition to her three Olympic gold medals forgotten by the organizers of the Miss France competition, she has ten world titles to her impressive list of achievements.

An error that we took care to correct in our version of the general knowledge test.