Cathy Freeman

Cathy Freeman

Freeman in Port Moresby, 2008
Personal information
Full name Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman
Nationality Australian
Born 16 February 1973
Slade Point, Mackay, Queensland
Education Kooralbyn International school, Fairholme Colledge, University of Melbourne
Height 164 cm (5 ft 5 in)
Weight 56 kg (8 st 11 lb)[1]
Spouse(s) Sandy Bodecker (1999-2003), James Murch (2009-present)
Sport
Country Australia
Sport Sprint
Coached by Step Father Bruce Barber, Mike Danila, Peter Fortune
Retired 1st of July 2003

Catherine Astrid Salome "Cathy" Freeman, OAM (born 16 February 1973) is a former Australian sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 currently ranks her as the sixth fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-Jose Perec's number three time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.[2]

Freeman was the first ever aboriginal to be in the Commonwealth Games gold medalist at age 16 in 1990.[3] 1994 was her breakthrough season. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, Freeman won gold in both the 200 m and 400 m. She also won the silver medal in the 1996 Olympics and came first at the 1997 World Championships, both in the 400 m event. 1998 saw Freeman taking a break from running due to injury. She returned to form with a first place in the 400 m at the 1999 World Championships. She announced her retirement from athletics in 2003.

In 2007 she founded the Cathy Freeman Foundation.[4]

Career

Freeman began athletics at a very young 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, high jump and long jump.

In 1987, Freeman moved on to Kooralbyn International School to be coached professionally by Romanian Mike Danila, who became her first coach and later a key influence throughout her career; he provided a strict training regime for the young athlete.[5][6][7]

In 1988, she was awarded a scholarship to an exclusive girls' school, Fairholme College in Toowoomba. In a competition in 1989, Freeman ran 11.67s in the 100 metres and Danila began to think about entering her in the Commonwealth Games Trials in Sydney.

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, as well as one of the youngest, at 16 years old. She moved to Melbourne in 1990 after the Auckland Commonwealth Games. Shortly after moving to Melbourne Nic Bideau, her manager, introduced Freeman to athletics coach Peter Fortune, who would become Freeman's coach for the rest of her career. 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 specialty 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. 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. 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 the world record was set in Canberra, Australia in 1985. Only Sanya Richards-Ross has come within a quarter of a second of Freeman's time since.[8] Pérec's winning time of 48.25 is the 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.

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.[9]

Freeman preparing to race in the Olympic 400m final, Sydney 2000.

Her winning streak continued into the 2000 season, despite Pérec's return to the track. Freeman was the home favourite 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 what she describes as harassment from strangers.[10] Freeman won the Olympic title in a time of 49.11 seconds, becoming only the second Australian Aboriginal Olympic champion (the first was Freeman's 4x400 teammate Nova Peris-Kneebone who won for field hockey 4 years earlier in Atlanta).[11] 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 recognised as official in Australia, is not a national flag, nor recognised by the International Olympic Committee.[12][13] Freeman also made the final of the 200 m, coming sixth.[14] 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).

Throughout her career, Freeman regularly competed in the Victorian Athletic League where she won two 400 m races at the Stawell Gift Carnival.[15] 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.

Freeman announced her retirement in 2003.[16]

Since retiring from athletics Freeman has become involved in a range of community and charitable activities. She was an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation until 2012.[17]

Freeman was appointed as an Ambassador for Cottage by the Sea, alongside celebrity chef Curtis Stone and big wave surfer Jeff Rowley. Freeman retired from her position as Patron after 10 years in 2014.[18] Cottage by the Sea is one of Australia's oldest charities and each year provides short-term beachside holidays and respite care for more than 900 children and families in need.[19]

In 2007 Cathy Freeman founded the Cathy Freeman Foundation. The Foundation works with four remote Indigenous communities to close the gap in education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian children.[20]

Personal life

Freeman was born in 1973 at Slade Point, Mackay, Queensland, to Norman Freeman and Cecelia. She and her brothers Gavin, Garth and Norman (who died after a motor vehicle accident on 16 September 2008)[21] 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. Her parents divorced in 1978.[22] Freeman has described how she has been influenced by early experiences with racism and also by her Bahá'í Faith.[23] 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".[24][25]

Freeman's mother Cecelia (née Sibley) was born in the Aboriginal community on Palm Island. Freeman's father was Norman Fisher; Norman was raised by his mother Geraldine Roy and his stepfather Claude Freeman.[22] Freeman's late grandfather, Frank Fisher was an outstanding rugby player.[26]

Freeman had a long-term romantic relationship with Nick Bideau, her manager, that ended in acrimony and legal wranglings over Freeman's endorsement earnings.[27][28] Freeman married Alexander "Sandy" Bodecker, a Nike executive and 20 years her senior, in 1999. After her success in Sydney she took an extended break from the track to nurse Bodecker through a bout of throat cancer between May–October 2002.[29] She announced their separation in February 2003.

Later that year, Freeman began dating Australian actor Joel Edgerton whom she had initially met at the 2002 TV Week Logies. Their relationship ended in early 2005.[30]

In October 2006 Freeman announced her engagement to Melbourne stockbroker James Murch.[31] They married at Spray Farm on the Bellarine Peninsula on 11 April 2009.[32] Freeman gave birth to Ruby Anne Susie Murch on 8 July 2011.[33]

She joined with actress Deborah Mailman on a road trip+, a four-part television documentary series Going Bush (2006) where the pair set off on a journey from Broome to Arnhem Land spending time with Indigenous communities along the way.[34][35]

In 2008, Freeman participated in Who Do You Think You Are? and discovered that her mother was of Chinese and English heritage as well as Aboriginal. As a result of a 1917 Queensland policy that Aborigines could serve in the military if they had a European parent, her paternal great grandfather, Frank Fisher served in the 11th Light Horse Regiment during WWI.[22][36]

On her right arm, the side closest to the spectators on an athletics track, she had the words "Cos I'm Free" tattooed mid-way between her shoulder and elbow.[37]

In 2009 Freeman was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.[38]

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, Canada 26 August 1994
300 m 36.42 – Mexico City, Mexico 3 May 2003
400 m 48.63 – Atlanta, United States 29 July 1996

Competition record

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand 1st 4x100 m relay
1990 World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 5th 200 m
5th 4x100 m relay
1992 Summer Olympics Barcelona, Spain 7th 4x400 m relay
1992 World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 2nd 200 m
6th 4x400 m relay
1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria Canada 1st 200 m
1st 400 m
2nd 4x100 m relay
1994 IAAF Grand Prix Final Paris, France 2nd 400 m
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 4th 400 m
3rd 4x400 m relay
1996 Summer Olympics Atlanta, United States 2nd 400 m
1996 IAAF Grand Prix Final Milan, Italy 1st 400 m
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 1st 400 m
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 1st 400 m
6th 4x100 m relay
1999 World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 2nd 400 m
2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 1st 400 m
7th 200 m
5th 4x400 m relay
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, Great Britain 1st 4x400 m relay

National championships

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1990 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd 100 m
1990 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 1st 200 m
1991 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
1992 Australian Championships Adelaide, Australia 2nd 200 m
1992 Australian Championships Adelaide, Australia 3rd 400 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
1995 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 2nd 200 m
1995 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 400 m
1996 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 100 m
1996 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
1997 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd 200 m
1997 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 1st 400 m
1998 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd
1999 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 1st 400 m
2000 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 200 m
2000 Australian Championships Sydney, Australia 1st 400 m
2003 Australian Championships Brisbane, Australia 1st 400 m

Circuit performances

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
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

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Cathy Freeman". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  2. ↑ TorchRelay – Photos: Cathy Freeman lights the Olympic Flame. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
  3. ↑ John Ashdown (11 January 2012). "50 stunning Olympic moments No9: Cathy Freeman wins gold for Australia". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ http://www.cathyfreemanfoundation.org.au/
  5. ↑ Cathy Freeman: The athletic proud of Australia
  6. ↑ Sebastian Coe (14 January 2001). "Athletics: Making of a legend". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 April 2008.
  7. ↑ Eamonn Condon (27 May 2001). "Freeman, still on top of the world". The Electronic Telegraph. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  8. ↑ http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=0/sex=W/all=y/legal=A/disc=400/detail.html
  9. ↑ http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics/australia/cathy-freeman-274/defends-world-crown-in-seville_a08106/
  10. ↑ "SYDNEY 2000; Perec Says Fear Overwhelmed Her". The New York Times. 29 September 2000. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  11. ↑ http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE2289b.htm
  12. ↑ "Indigenous leaders want officials to drop ban on flags". The Age. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Olympic flags rule sparks anger". BBC News. 5 August 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  14. ↑ Wallechinsky, David; Loucky, Jaime. The Complete Book of the Olympics. Aurum Press, 2008, p. 300.
  15. ↑ http://www.stawellgift.com/hall-of-fame/did-you-know/
  16. ↑ Johnson, Len (16 July 2003). "Cathy Freeman retires". The Age (Melbourne). Retrieved 4 January 2010.
  17. ↑ Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ "Freeman champions kids' cottage cause". geelongadvertiser.com.au. 22 December 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ Michael, Peter (17 September 2008). "Cathy Freeman's brother killed in car crash". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Catherine Freeman Who Do You Think You Are?. SBS One.
  23. ↑ Cos I'm Free (AKA Cathy Freeman). 10 March 2006. Message Stick. Program transcript.
  24. ↑ 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, 9 March 2006
  25. ↑ Born to Run (extract) Chapter 1 Running Free, Penguin Group (Australia)
  26. ↑ Hemming, Wally (9 September 2008). "Indigenous NRL team named". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  27. ↑ Raelene Boyle (22 March 2006) " Bideau's methods are make or break". SMH
  28. ↑ Brendan Gallagher (24 June 2004). Cathy Freeman tells her story. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group.
  29. ↑ Jacquelin Magnay (8 November 2002) Sandy beats cancer. The Sydney Morning Herald.
  30. ↑ (21 January 2005). Cathy and Joel split. The Age. The Age Company.
  31. ↑ Sheahan, Kate; Gullan, Scott (12 October 2006). "Cathy Freeman to wed again". news.com.au. Retrieved 22 July 2008.
  32. ↑ "Sprinter Freeman walks down the aisle". smh.com.au. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  33. ↑ Nino Bucci (8 July 2011). Cathy Freeman gives birth. The Age. Fairfax Media.
  34. ↑ "Going Bush – Series 1". ABC Shop. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  35. ↑ Going Bush at the Internet Movie Database
  36. ↑ Cathy's family secrets – publisher: The Daily Telegraph (13 January 2008)
  37. ↑ Coulter, Michael (12 November 2006). "Sporting tattoos". Melbourne: The Age. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  38. ↑ "Ms Catherine Freeman OAM". Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. qsport.org.au. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  39. ↑ Lewis, Wendy (2010). Australians of the Year. Pier 9 Press. ISBN 978-1-74196-809-5.
  40. ↑ It's an Honour entry – Australian Sports Medal – 26 January 2001 Citation: World Champion 1997 and 1999, Commonwealth Champion 1994, VIS Award of Excellence 1997
  41. ↑ It's an Honour entry – Centenary Medal – 1 January 2001 Citation: For outstanding service through sport
  42. ↑ It's an Honour entry – Medal of the Order of Australia – 26 January 2001 Citation: For service to sport, particularly athletics
  43. ↑ International Olympic Committee – News for 21 June 2001
  44. ↑ "Catherine Freeman OAM". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 21 September 2013.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cathy Freeman.


Awards and achievements
Preceded by
United States Marion Jones		 World Sportswoman of the Year
2001 		Succeeded by
United States Jennifer Capriati
Olympic Games
Preceded by
United States Muhammad Ali		 Final Summer Olympic Torchbearer
Sydney 2000 		Succeeded by
Greece Nikolaos Kaklamanakis