Freeman, Cathy

▪ 1998

      In 1997 Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman gained international renown not only for how she carried herself on the track but also for what she carried on the track. Exhausted after winning the 400-m event at the world track and field championships in Athens in August, she staggered through a victory lap under the weight of two flags: the Australian national flag and the native Aboriginal flag. As the first Australian Aborigine to win a world track title, she beamed, "I'm so glad of what I am. Australian and Aboriginal. They're two and the same." Some Australians, however, did not share her pride and viewed her flag-waving as an act of defiance, particularly in light of recent contention over land-rights issues between the government and the Aborigines, a tiny indigenous minority that had historically encountered discrimination. In spite of the controversy, Freeman remained an international celebrity, a role model to young women, an Aborigine heroine, and one of track and field's most exciting world champions.

      Born Feb. 16, 1973, in Mackay, Queen., Australia, Freeman began competitive running on the advice of her non-Aborigine stepfather. At age 17 she won a gold medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games as a member of the 4 100-m relay team and was named Young Australian of the Year. In 1992 she became the first Australian Aborigine to compete in the Olympic Games. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games she captured gold medals in the 400-m and 200-m races, setting a national record in the 200 m at 22.2 sec, and also won a silver medal in the 4 100-m relay. Although taking her victory laps while carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags endeared her to the public, it incensed Commonwealth Games official Arthur Tunstall, and Freeman was warned that a similar display at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., would be seen as a political demonstration and therefore in violation of Olympic regulations. A succession of impressive victories in 1995, including a rare win against rival Marie-José Pérec of France, earned Freeman the number two world ranking at 400 m. She held that ranking the following year, when she became the first Australian woman to break 50 seconds at 400 m, which she did seven times in race finals.

      At the 1996 Olympic Games, in what was considered one of the greatest 400-m matches, Freeman and Pérec led the field and were neck and neck down the final straightaway until Pérec outkicked Freeman, leaving her with a silver medal. Freeman finished the 1996 season with a string of Grand Prix victories at 400 m, and after a brief layoff, during which she shaved off her long hair, she returned to form in 1997 with the year's fastest 400-m time when she clocked 49.39 sec at Oslo in July. At the world championships, with Pérec a no-show, she won the 400-m gold in 49.77 sec, beating her training partner, Sandie Richards of Jamaica, to retain her number one world ranking.

TOM MICHAEL

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