Mackay, Queensland. 1981. An eight year old Cathy Freeman takes to the track for the first time in her life for the 80 metre sprint. The starting gun is fired, and she’s off.
Before Freeman knows it, the race is over. She’s won easily. A gold medal is placed around her neck.
“I was hooked.”
—
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman was born on February 16th, 1973 in Queensland, Australia. She would spend several years of her life here in the commissioned housing, with her mother Cecilia, father Norman, brothers Gavin, Garth and Norman, and a sister named Anne-Marie, who suffered from cerebral palsy and spent most of her life in homes dedicated to the disabled.
Norman and Cecelia divorced in 1978, and not long after, her mother remarried to Bruce Barber. The family would move from small town to small town as Barber was transferred for work, and though they did not enjoy the constant relocations – at one point Gavin even punched him in the face – Freeman would find in him her first coach.
He proved crucial in these early days. In 1984 and 1985 she contracted glandular fever then shingles, causing a major setback in her athletic career. She began to grow stressed, but Barber helped counsel her through these difficult times. He also raised money for both Freeman and younger brother Norman to attend national competitions and scholarships to give them the best opportunities possible.
At the same time, Freeman moved on to Kooralbyn International School, where she was coached by Mike Danila, her first professional coach and a key figure throughout her career.
Freeman did not enjoy school, and was instead completely devoted to athletics. By her early teens she held a range of regional and national titles for high jump, long jump, 100 metres, and 200 metres, and told her guidance officer her goal was to win Olympic gold.
The chance for something different arrived when Freeman turned 15, and was offered a scholarship at Fairholme College, Toowoomba. The prestigious college, with its strict rules, overwhelmed her, and she felt out of place. Freeman felt the brunt of racist name-calling, but did her best to pay it no mind.
On the track, she remained as focused as ever. So strong was she, especially in the 100 metres, that Danila entered her into the Commonwealth Games Trials.
She made the team at only 16, and was chosen for the 4 x 100m relay at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games. The team won gold, and Freeman became the first ever Aboriginal Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and one of the youngest of all time.
Arriving home a household name, Freeman was well on her way to Olympic gold, but there was a lot of work left to be done. After attending the World Junior Championships (WJC), she took up residence in Brisbane. Two years later, at the age of 18, she moved to Melbourne with Nic Bideau, her manager and boyfriend, against better judgement. She spent the first six months stooped in depression, regretting the move, while working at a sandwich shop then a sports store. The only positive of the whole experience was her introduction to Peter Fortune, the man who would coach her for the rest of her career.
She took part in her first Summer Olympics that year in Barcelona, where Australia placed 7th in the 4 x 400m relay. She had better luck at this year’s WJC however, placing 2nd in the 200m.
When Freeman put on weight following her return, Bideau fired Fortune, but it would mark only a temporary end in their relationship. Freeman realised Bideau was cheating on her, and began drinking heavily. It was her mother that helped her regain control, and with Fortune back at her side, she started preparing for the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games.
It was going to be here year.
Freeman won gold in the 200m and 400m, and silver in the 4 x 100m relay. She set all-time personal bests for the 100m and 200m, and took 1.3 seconds off her 400m time. Both the Australian and Aboriginal flags were waiting for her at the end, and she carried them both around the track in pride as viewers applauded, both in the stands and around the world.
By the 1996 Olympics, Freeman was seen as the number one competitor against esteemed French athlete Marie-Jose Perec. Though Perec won gold, Freeman finished close behind her, and her time of 48.63 seconds was an Australian record, and the sixth fastest time ever in the event. Not long after, she won the 400m event at the IAAF Grand Prix Final, and received gold in the 400m class at both the 1997 (the same year she was named Young Australian of the Year) and 1999 World Championships.
The victories helped Freeman overcome the low self-esteem she has suffered throughout her life, especially following her split from Bideau.
So the stage was set for the 2000 Olympic Games. Hopes were high that Freeman – who had been chosen to light the cauldron during the opening ceremony – would finally win the Olympic gold she had been working towards her entire career.
The 400m event was where she would shine. She won with a time of 49.11 seconds, becoming only the second Aboriginal Olympic champion. Once again, she took a victory lap with both of her flags, and adorned in the body suit that would become iconic to Australian sporting history.
Later, Freeman would call the race her “last real race”. Though she would later claim gold as part of the 4 x 400m relay team at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, her dream had been realised.
Cathy Freeman announced her retirement in 2003.
Since then, Freeman has been taking part in community and charity endeavours. She was patron of Cottage by the Sea, one of Australia’s oldest charities, from 2004-2014, and in 2007 established the Cathy Freeman Foundation, working with four indigenous communities to close the education gap.
Though she has appeared on two television shows since retirement – Going Bush and Who Do You Think You Are? – Freeman now enjoys her privacy with husband James Murch and daughter Ruby.
Freeman’s story is one of pride, obsession, and determination. From a young age she gallantly climbed the rungs of the social ladder from the very bottom as an unknown child in commissioned housing, to the very top, as a symbol of Aussie excellence. All the time, she was looking up, setting her sights on what she wanted. After all, “you got to try and reach for the stars, or try and achieve the unreachable”.