Discover the legends of athletics in our monthly feature On the Shoulders of Giants.
Cathy Freeman
The Millennium Olympics saw the participation of 199 countries across 300 events with the awarding of 2280 medals, yet the Games belonged to one athlete, the Australian superstar Cathy Freeman. From the Opening Ceremony at Stadium Australia where she was the final torchbearer, to the 400m Women’s Final in front of a packed stadium and with the expectations of a nation on her shoulders, Freeman appeared in her rightful place, creating magic moments and securing her place in Olympic history.
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman was born in Mackay, Queensland on 16 February, 1973. Freeman’s mother of Kuku Yalanji heritage was born in Palm Island while her father was born of the Burri Gubba people of central Queensland. Cathy became involved in athletics at a young age and by fourteen, she declared to her vocational officer that her only career goal was to win an Olympic medal. At this stage, the goal wasn’t completely unfeasible, she had won national titles in high jump, and the 100, 200 and 400 metre sprints. At 16 years of age, Freeman won gold at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games as part of the 4x100m relay team, and at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics she became the first Aboriginal track and field athlete to represent Australia at an Olympic Games.
During the 1994 Commonwealth Games Freeman caused controversy by carrying the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian national flag during her victory lap of the 200 metres sprint. At that time the Aboriginal flag was not recognised as an official Australian flag. Many deemed the act too ‘political’ and this was further pushed by Australia’s Chef de Mission for the games, Arthur Tunstall, who issued a statement in which he publicly reprimanded Freeman stating ‘She should have carried the Australian flag first up, and (we should have) not seen the Aboriginal flag at all’.
Others however saw it as an act of reconciliation and celebrated the moment. Freeman was keenly aware of the many injustices done to Aboriginal people. Her own grandmother had been part of the stolen generations, forcibly taken away from her family at the age of eight. In her biography, Cathy: Her Own Story, Freeman stated that ‘I wanted to shout, ‘Look at me. Look at my skin. I’m black, and I’m the best.’ There was no more shame’.
Freeman entered the Sydney Games as favourite, and comfortably won the three preliminary heats. For the final she wore her Nike Swift Suit, a green, gold and silver full aerodynamic bodysuit with hood. The suit making Freeman easily identifiable amongst the field not that she required any more attentionon her! At the previous Olympic Games, in Atlanta in 1996, Freeman had won silver, narrowly coming in second to French athlete Marie-José Pérec. The world was hoping that Sydney would bring a rematch of that encounter. But, to Freeman’s disappointment, Pérec pulled out a few days before the race, citing the pressure of competing against a hometown favourite.
At 8:10pm on Monday 25th September silence engulfed the Olympic stadium. After an excruciatingly long pause, the starter shouted “set”, and the gun blasted. As Freeman rose so too did the 112,000 spectators, both athlete and audience roaring into life! Freeman started fast and as she entered the back straight you can see her trying to hold herself back, the adrenaline must have been soaring through her veins, she steadies to find her form. The noise inside the stadium deafening. With 200m to go, there was nothing between Freeman and the second and third placed athletes, Lorraine Graham (Jamaica) and Katharine Merry (Great Britain). They rounded the final bend and into the home straight still neck and neck. Then with 50m to go Freeman moved up a gear and sprinted clear to claim a historic gold with 3 metres to spare on Graham in second.
Freeman had fulfilled a mission that had absorbed her whole life: she had won the 400m final (49.11), and claimed Australia’s 100th gold medal. Not since 1964, when Betty Cuthbert was successful over the same distance in Tokyo, had an Australian woman won a flat race on the track at the Games. And yet of all this drama and excitement what came next was possibly most significant. Dancing her victory lap in front of an ecstatic home crowd, Freeman carried both Australian and Aboriginal flags. She carefully picked them up at the same time, and tied their ends together, to show that they were equally important to her. After all the controversy of the Commonwealth Games in 1994, this time Freeman’s flag carrying was seen as a moment for the nation, symbolising the Australian people’s desire for reconciliation and pride in her Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Tadhg Crowley
8 January 2023