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| Birth Name(s) : Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman |
Date of Birth: February 16, 1973 |
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| Profession:
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Full Cathy Freeman Biography
By 1984 north Queensland newspapers were referring to Freeman as the 'wonder girl' from Mackay. Sitting on a log watching Cathy train, Bruce had a vision of Cathy as an Olympian. 'She reminded me of a champion racehorse - just the symmetry of her movement.' Bruce had no idea about training an athlete so wrote to state school sporting officials asking for a training program.
Norman, Cathy's younger brother was proving every bit as talented as Cathy. Their ability to compete at school racing carnivals around Australia was entirely due to Bruce's tireless fundraising efforts. But what really opened Australia to the family was Bruce's railway passes, and year after year the family organised their annual holidays around the state or national titles.
Bruce was Cathy's greatest advocate, even when she was only 14, he was quite sure she was going to run in the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
Cecilia and Bruce were the quintessential battlers, materially poor, but rich in love and dedication, which they lavished on their children.
At the Sydney Olympics, Cathy found out first hand what it meant to have the eyes of a nation on her. Having won the last two World Championships she was expected to win gold. The entire nation stopped to watch Cathy fulfill those expectations winning the 400m in 49.11 before a crowd of 110,000 inside Stadium Australia and a massive worldwide television audience.
The pinnacle has secured Cathy's place as a truly international personality and role model. She is a symbol of Australia and all of it's people. |
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Additional Cathy Freeman Biography
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman OAM (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian athlete who is particularly associated with the 400 m race. As an Aboriginal Australian, she is regarded as a role model for her people, and by many in the non-Aboriginal community as a symbol of national reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. She was born in Slade Point,Mackay, Queensland. The Slade Point "Cathy Freeman Oval" is named after the famous athlete.
At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, she created a great deal of controversy by waving the Aboriginal flag as well as the Australian flag during her victory lap of the arena. Normally, only the national flag is so waved. There was no such controversy when she did the same after winning her gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, even though the use of non-national flags at the Olympics is officially forbidden.
Freeman won two World Championships in the 400 m event, in Athens (1997) and Seville (1999). At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, she won the silver medal behind Marie-José Perec of France.
On 25 September 2000 Cathy Freeman won the 400 m Olympic title in front of her home crowd during the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The medal was regarded as Australia's 100th gold medal. Earlier, she had lit the Olympic Flame in the Games' Opening Ceremony. This made her the only person to light the Olympic flame and go on to win a gold medal at the same games.
Freeman was appointed Moomba Monarch (popularly called Queen of Moomba) by the Melbourne festival's 1995 committee.Freeman was the recipient of the 2001 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
Freeman had a long-term romantic relationship with Nick Bideau, her manager, that ended in acrimony and legal wranglings over Freeman's endorsement earnings.
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.
Returning to running in 2003, Freeman clearly struggled for form and motivation after losses to upcoming Australian runner Jana Pittman, and a fifth placing in an athletics meet in May where she was thoroughly trounced by Ana Guevara of Mexico, the fastest 400 m runner at that time.
On 15 March 2006, Cathy Freeman was one of the final runners in the Queen's Baton Relay, bringing the baton into the MCG at the Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. |
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Cathy Freeman Quote(s)
| For athletes traditionally it's such a fantastic stepping stone to greater things down the track and in the future. Don't undermine the Commonwealth Games. |
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