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Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the 11th-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-six time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she had lit the Olympic Flame. TorchRelay – Photos: Cathy Freeman lights the Olympic Flame . The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
Freeman was the first female Indigenous Australian to become a Commonwealth Games gold medal at age 16 in 1990. The year 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 at the 1996 Olympics and came first at the 1997 World Championships in the 400 m event. In 1998, Freeman took a break from running due to injury. She returned from injury in form with a first-place finish 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, which changed names twice (to Community Spirit Foundation and later to Murrup). She is of the Kuku-yalanji and Birri-gubba peoples.
In a competition in 1989, Freeman ran 11.67 s in the 100 metres and Danila began to think about entering her in the Commonwealth Games Trials in Sydney. She finished her schooling at Kooralbyn in 1990 and upon graduation was offered a job as a recreation officer at the Kooralbyn Valley Resort where she worked briefly.
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 in Barcelona, reaching the second round of her new specialty event, the 400 metres, and finishing 7th as part of the Australian team in the women's relay finals. 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 4 × 100 m squad, winning the silver medal and as a member of the 4 × 400 m team, who finished first but were later disqualified after Freeman obstructed the Nigerian runner. 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.
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.
Freeman also lit the torch in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
She continued to win 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 described as harassment from strangers. 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 teammate Nova Peris who won for field hockey four years earlier in Atlanta). After the race, Freeman took a victory lap, carrying both the Aboriginal and Australian flags. This was despite unofficial flags being banned at the Olympic Games, and the Aboriginal flag, while recognised as official in Australia, not being a national flag or recognised by the International Olympic Committee. Freeman also reached the final of the 200 m, coming sixth.Wallechinsky, David; Loucky, Jaime. The Complete Book of the Olympics. Aurum Press, 2008, p. 300. 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.
Freeman did not compete during the 2001 season. In 2002 she returned to the track to compete as a member of Australia's victorious relay team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Freeman announced her retirement in 2003.
Freeman was appointed as an Ambassador for Cottage by the Sea (a children's holiday camp in Queenscliffe, Victoria), alongside celebrity chef Curtis Stone and big-wave surfer Jeff Rowley. Freeman retired from her position as Patron after 10 years in 2014.
Freeman attended several schools, including schools in Mackay and Coppabella, but was mostly educated at Fairholme College in Toowoomba where she attended after winning a scholarship to board there. Indigenous Australia: Catherine (Cathy) Freeman, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University website. Retrieved 7 August 2017
Freeman's parents divorced in 1978, after which her father returned to Woorabinda.
Freeman has described how she has been influenced by early experiences with racism and also by the Baháʼí Faith. She was raised a Catholic, and says of her faith, "I'm not a devout Catholic but I like the prayers and I appreciate their values about the equality of all human kind." 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. Born to Run (extract) Chapter 1 Running Free, Penguin Group (Australia)
Freeman had a long-term romantic relationship with Nick Bideau, her manager, that ended in acrimony and legal wranglings over Freeman's endorsement earnings.Raelene Boyle (22 March 2006) " Bideau's methods are make or break". The Sydney Morning HeraldBrendan Gallagher (24 June 2004). Cathy Freeman tells her story. The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Freeman married Alexander "Sandy" Bodecker, a Nike executive 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 from May to October 2002.Jacquelin Magnay (8 November 2002) "Sandy beats cancer", The Sydney Morning Herald. 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. "Cathy and Joel split", The Age, 21 January 2005.
In October 2006, Freeman announced her engagement to Melbourne stockbroker James Murch. They married at Spray Farm on the Bellarine Peninsula on 11 April 2009. Freeman gave birth to her first child in 2011. "Cathy Freeman gives birth", The Age, 8 July 2011. In August 2024 Freeman and Murch announced their separation.
Freeman is a supporter of National Rugby League team the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and Australian Football League team the Carlton Blues. Freeman was also a part of the "Group of 14" who backed the return of the South Sydney Rabbitohs to the NRL following their exclusion in 2000 and 2001.
On 10 October 2023, Freeman was one of 25 Australians of the Year who signed an open letter supporting the Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum, initiated by psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.
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 Aboriginal people 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 World War I. Catherine Freeman Who Do You Think You Are?. SBS One. Cathy's family secrets – publisher: The Daily Telegraph (13 January 2008)
On her right arm, the side closest to the spectators on an athletics track, she had the words "Cos I'm free" tattooed midway between her shoulder and elbow.
1990–1995
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, her manager Nic Bideau 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 200 m.
1996–2003
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 was the fourth-fastest since the world record was set in Canberra, Australia, in 1985. Pérec's winning time of 48.25 was an Olympic record.
Post-athletic career
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 (AIEF) until 2012. Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
Cathy Freeman Foundation
In 2007 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, by offering incentives for children to attend school. It partners with the AIEF and the Brotherhood of St Laurence.
Personal life
Freeman was born in 1973 at Slade Point, Mackay, Queensland, to Norman Freeman and Cecelia Barber. Norman was born in Woorabinda of the Birri Gubba people; Cecelia was born on Palm Island in Queensland, and is of Kuku Yalanji heritage. Moreover, Freeman also has Syrians ancestry. Freeman and her brothers Gavin, Garth, and Norman were raised in Mackay and in other parts of Queensland. She also had an older sister, Anne-Marie, who was born in 1966 and died in 1990. Anne-Marie had cerebral palsy and spent much of her life in the Birribi care facility in Rockhampton. Cos I'm Free (AKA Cathy Freeman) , Transcript, Message Stick, ABC Television, 11 March 2006.
Media
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.
Competition record
International competitions
1990 Commonwealth Games Auckland, New Zealand 1st 4 × 100 m relay 43.87 World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 15th (sf) 100 m 11.87 (wind: -1.3 m/s) 5th 200 m 23.61 (wind: +1.3 m/s) 5th 4 × 100 m relay 45.01 1992 Summer Olympics Barcelona, Spain 7th 4 × 400 m relay World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 2nd 200 m 23.25 (wind: +0.3 m/s) 6th 4 × 400 m relay 1994 Commonwealth Games Victoria Canada 1st 200 m 22.25 1st 400 m 50.38 2nd 4 × 100 m relay 43.43 IAAF Grand Prix Final Paris, France 2nd 400 m 50.04 1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 4th 400 m 50.60 3rd 4 × 400 m relay 1996 Summer Olympics Atlanta, United States 2nd 400 m 48.63 IAAF Grand Prix Final Milan, Italy 1st 400 m 49.60 1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 1st 400 m 49.77 1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 1st 400 m 49.67 6th 4 × 400 m relay World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 2nd 4 × 400 m relay 2000 Summer Olympics Sydney, Australia 6th 200 m 22.53 1st 400 m 49.11 5th 4 × 400 m relay 2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, Great Britain 1st 4 × 400 m relay
National championships
1990 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 2nd 100 m 1990 Australian Championships Melbourne, Australia 3rd 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 1st 400 m 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
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
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1973 Births, Living People, Sportspeople From Mackay, Queensland, Athletes From Queensland, Sportswomen From Queensland, Australian Women Sprinters, Olympic Athletes For Australia, Olympic Gold Medalists For Australia, Olympic Silver Medalists For Australia, Indigenous Australian Olympians, Indigenous Australian Track And Field Athletes, Olympic Cauldron Lighters, Athletes At The 1992 Summer Olympics, Athletes At The 1996 Summer Olympics, Athletes At The 2000 Summer Olympics, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallists For Australia, Commonwealth Games Athletes For Australia, Commonwealth Games Silver Medallists For Australia, Athletes At The 1990 Commonwealth Games, Athletes At The 1994 Commonwealth Games, Athletes At The 2002 Commonwealth Games, World Athletics Championships Athletes For Australia, World Athletics Championships Medalists, Australian Of The Year Award Winners, Laureus World Sports Awards Winners, Recipients Of The Australian Sports Medal, Companions Of The Order Of Australia, Recipients Of The Olympic Order, Sport Australia Hall Of Fame Inductees, Australian People Of English Descent, Australian People Of Syrian Descent, Sportspeople Of English Descent, Sportspeople Of Syrian Descent, Australian Baháʼís, Medalists At The 1996 Summer Olympics, Medalists At The 2000 Summer Olympics, Olympic Gold Medalists In Athletics, Olympic Silver Medalists In Athletics, World Athletics Indoor Championships Medalists, World Athletics Championships Winners, Olympic Women Sprinters, Australian Republicans, Australian Autobiographers, Medallists At The 1990 Commonwealth Games, Medallists At The 1994 Commonwealth Games, Medallists At The 2002 Commonwealth Games, Australian Athletics Championships Winners, 21st-century Australian Sportswomen, Commonwealth Games Gold Medallists In Athletics, Commonwealth Games Silver Medallists In Athletics
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