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Cathy Freeman

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Cathy Freeman

Medal record
Women’s Athletics
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2000 Sydney 400 m
Silver medal – second place 1996 Atlanta 400 m
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1997 Athens 400 m
Gold medal – first place 1999 Seville 400 m
Bronze medal – third place 1995 Gothenburg 4 × 400 m relay
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1990 Auckland 4 × 100 m
Gold medal – first place 1994 Victoria 200 m
Gold medal – first place 1994 Victoria 400 m
Gold medal – first place 2002 Manchester 4 × 400 m
Silver medal – second place 1994 Victoria 4 × 100 m

Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman, OAM (known as Cathy Freeman) (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian Aboriginal sprinter who is particularly associated with the 400 metres race. She became the Olympic champion for 400 m in the 2000 Sydney games, at which she lit the Olympic Flame[1]. Freeman was born in Slade Point, Mackay, Queensland, where the local athletics track is now named after her.

Career

Freeman began athletics at an early age. Her first coach was her stepfather, Bruce Barber. By her early teens she had a collection of regional and national titles, having competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and high jump.[citation needed]

In 1990, Freeman was chosen as a member of Australia's 4×100 m relay team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. The team won the gold medal, making Freeman the first ever Aboriginal Commonwealth Games gold medallist,[citation needed] as well as one of the youngest, at 16 years old. She was then selected to represent Australia at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. There, she reached the semi-finals of the 100 m and placed fifth in the final of the 400 m.

Freeman competed in her second World Junior Championships in Seoul, South Korea. She competed only in the 200 m, winning the silver medal behind China's Hu Ling. Also in 1992, she travelled to her first Olympic Games, reaching the second round of her new speciality event; the 400 metres. At the 1993 World Championships in Athletics, Freeman competed in the 200 m, reaching the semi-finals.

1994 was Freeman's breakthrough season, when she entered into the world's elite for the first time. Competing at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, Freeman won gold in both the 200 m and 400 m. She also competed as a member of Australia's 4x100 m squad, winning the silver medal and as a member of the 4x400 m team, who finished first but were later disqualified. During the 1994 season, Freeman took 1.3 seconds from her 400 m personal best, achieving 50.04 seconds. She also set all-time personal bests in the 100 m (11.24) and 200 m (22.25).

Although a medal favourite at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics in Sweden, Freeman finished fourth.[citation needed] She also reached the semi-finals of the 200 m.

Freeman made more progress during the 1996 season, setting many personal bests and Australian records. By this stage, she was the biggest challenger to France's Marie-José Pérec at the 1996 Olympics.[citation needed] She eventually took the silver medal behind Pérec, in an Australian record of 48.63 seconds. This is still the sixth fastest time ever and the second fastest since 1985.[citation needed] Pérec's winning time of 48.25 was an Olympic record and the third fastest ever.

In 1997, Freeman won the 400 m at the World Championships in Athens, with a time of 49.77 seconds. Her only loss in the 400 m that season was in Oslo where she injured her foot.[citation needed]

Freeman took a break for the 1998 season, due to injury. Upon her return to the track in 1999, Freeman did not lose a single 400 m race, including at the World Championships.[citation needed]

Her winning streak continued into the 2000 season, despite Pérec's return to the track. Freeman was the home favorite for the 400 m title at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where she was expected to face-off with rival Pérec. This showdown never happened, as Pérec left the Games after an encounter with an Australian photographer.[citation needed] Freeman won the Olympic title in a time of 49.13 seconds, becoming only the second Australian Aboriginal Olympic champion (the first was Nova Peris-Kneebone for field hockey in Atlanta).[citation needed] After the race, Freeman took a victory lap, carrying both the Aboriginal and Australian flags. This was despite the fact that unofficial flags are banned at the Olympic Games and the Aboriginal flag, while recognized as official in Australia, is not a national flag, nor recognized by the International Olympic Committee.[citation needed] Freeman also made the final of the 200 m, coming sixth.[citation needed] In honour of her gold medal win in Sydney, she represented Oceania in carrying the Olympic flag at the opening ceremonies of the next Olympics, in Salt Lake City, joining Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Africa), John Glenn (The Americas), Kazuyoshi Funaki (Asia), Lech Wałęsa (Europe), Jean-Michel Cousteau (Environment), Jean-Claude Killy (Sport), and Steven Spielberg (Culture).[citation needed]

Throughout her career, Freeman regularly competed in the Victorian Athletic League where she won two 400 m races at the Stawell Gift Carnival.[citation needed]

Freeman did not compete during the 2001 season. In 2002, she returned to the track to compete as a member of Australia's victorious 4x400 m relay team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.[citation needed]

Freeman announced her retirement in 2003.[2]

Since retiring from athletics Freeman has become involved in a range of community and charitable activities. Cathy is also an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (www.aief.com.au)

Personal life

Freeman was born at Slade Point, Mackay, Queensland. She and her brothers Gavin, Garth and Norman (who died after a motor vehicle accident on 16 September 2008) [3] were raised there and in other parts of Queensland. She also had a sister named Anne-Marie (1966–1990) who suffered from cerebral palsy and spent much of her life in a home for the disabled. Freeman attended several schools, but was mostly educated at Fairholme College, in Toowoomba.[citation needed] Her parents separated when she was at a young age and her mother re-married when Freeman was nine.[citation needed] Freeman has described how she has been influenced by early experiences with racism and also by her Bahá'í faith.[4] Freeman was raised a Baha'i, and says of her faith, "I'm not a devout Baha'i but I like the prayers and I appreciate their values about the equality of all human kind".[5][6]

Freeman had a long-term romantic relationship with Nic Bideau, her manager, that ended in acrimony and legal wranglings over Freeman's endorsement earnings.[7] Freeman married Sandy Bodecker, a Nike executive, in 1999. After her success in Sydney she took an extended break from the track to nurse Bodecker through a bout of cancer. She announced their separation in February 2003. Freeman also dated actor Joel Edgerton for a period of time after her retirement.

In October 2006 Freeman announced her engagement to Melbourne stockbroker James Murch.[8] They married at Spray Farm on the Bellarine Peninsula on 11 April 2009.[9]

In 2008 Freeman participated in Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered that she has Chinese, Hungarian and English heritage.[10]

On her right arm, the side closest to the spectators on an athletics track, she had the words "Cos I'm Free" tattoed mid-way between her shoulder and elbow.[11]

Personal bests

Event Time Wind Place Date
100 m 11.24 +1.1 Brisbane, Australia 5 February 1994
200 m 22.25 +1.3 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 26 August 1994
300 m 36.42 - Mexico City, Mexico 3 May 2003
400 m 48.63 - Atlanta, Georgia, USA 29 July 1996

Awards

Year Tournament Venue Result Event
1990 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd 100 m
1990 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 1st 200 m
1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand 1st 4x100 m Relay
1990 World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 5th 4x100 m Relay
1990 World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 5th 200 m
1991 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
1992 1992 Summer Olympics Barcelona, Spain 7th 4x400 m Relay
1992 Australian Championships Adelaide, Australia 2nd 200 m

1992

Australian Championships Adelaide, Australia 3rd 400 m
1992 World junior Championships Seoul, Korea 6th 4x400 m Relay
1992 World Junior Championships Seoul, Korea 2nd 200 m
1993 Australian Championships Queensland, Australia 2nd 200 m
1994 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 100 m
1994 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria, British Columbia 2nd 4x100 m Relay
1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria, British Columbia 1st 200 m
1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria, British Columbia 1st 400 m
1994 IAAF Grand Prix Final Paris, France 2nd 400 m
1995 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 2nd 200 m
1995 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 400 m
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 4th 400 m
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 3rd 4x400 m Relay
1996 1996 Summer Olympics Atlanta, Georgia 2nd 400 m
1996 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 100 m
1996 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
1996 IAAF Grand Prix Final Milan, Italy 1st 400 m
1997 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd 200 m
1997 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 1st 400 m
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 1st 400 m
1998 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd
1999 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 1st 400 m
1999 World Championships Sevilla, Spain 1st 400 m
1999 World Championships Sevilla, Spain 6th 4x100 m Relay
1999 World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 2nd 400 m
2000 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 1st 400 m
2000 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 7th 200 m
2000 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 5th 4x400 m Relay
2000 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
2000 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 400 m
2000 Golden League 2000 - Exxon Mobil Bislett Games Oslo, Norway 1st 400 m
2000 Golden League 2000 - Herculis Zepter Monaco 1st 400 m
2000 Golden League 2000 - Meeting Gaz de France de Paris Paris, France 1st 200 m
2000 Golden League 2000 - Memorial Van Damme Brussels, Belgium 1st 400 m
2000 Grand Prix 2000 - Athletissima 2000 Lausanne, Switzerland 1st 400 m
2000 Grand Prix 2000 - CGU Classic Gateshead, Great Britain 1st 200 m
2000 Grand Prix 2000 - Melbourne Track Classic Melbourne, Australia 1st 400 m
2000 Grand Prix 2000 - Tsiklitiria Meeting Athens, Greece 1st 400 m
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, Great Britain 1st 4x400 m Relay
2003 Australian Championships Brisbane, Australia 1st 400 m

References

  1. ^ TorchRelay - Photos: Cathy Freeman lights the Olympic Flame
  2. ^ Johnson, Len (16 July 2003). "Cathy Freeman retires". theage.com.au. Melbourne. Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  3. ^ Michael, Peter (17 September 2008). "Cathy Freeman's brother killed in car crash". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  4. ^ Cos I'm Free (AKA Cathy Freeman) Transcript of Program
  5. ^ The love and pain that inspire Cathy, Top athlete may journey from the winner's podium to the Academy Awards by Michael Dwyer, The Age, March 9, 2006
  6. ^ Born to Run (extract) Chapter 1 Running Free, Penguin Group (Australia)
  7. ^ Bideau's methods are make or break - by Raelene Boyle - publisher: SMH (22 March 2006)
  8. ^ Sheahan, Kate (12 October 2006). "Cathy Freeman to wed again". news.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ "Sprinter Freeman walks down the aisle". smh.com.au. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  10. ^ Cathy's family secrets - publisher: The Daily Telegraph (13 January 2008)
  11. ^ Coulter, Michael (12 November 2006). "Sporting tattoos". Melbourne: The Age. Retrieved 21 February 2010.

Further reading

  • McGreggor, A. (1998) Cathy Freeman; A Journey Just Begun. Milsons Point, Random House Australia. ISBN 0-09-183647-2.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cathy Freeman.


Template:Footer Commonwealth Champions 400 m Women

Template:Footer Australia NC 100 m Women

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Australian of the Year
1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by World Sportswoman of the Year
2001 		Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Final Summer Olympic Torchbearer
Sydney 2000 		Succeeded by
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