SYDNEY, NSW. — Cathy Freeman won the hearts of a nation. She is quoted as having said, “I wanted to be an Olympic champion and I didn’t care about the goings-on around me.“
“In my heart and with all of my soul I was ready, willing and I was very able. I had a deadly sense of self-belief. I’d go to another level and say I had a deadly sense of self-conviction where you can say whatever you want, you can do whatever you want, but you’re not going to touch me.”
Freeman was born in Mackay in 1973. Always proud of her ancestry, Freeman hoped her success as an athlete would inspire all First Nations children.
Family is important to Freeman. Her first coach was her stepfather, Bruce Barber. And after winning her gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, the image in her mind was of her older sister, Anne-Marie, who had been born with cerebral palsy.
The pressure had been huge, but she had lived up to the nation’s dreams.
On the final turn of the 400m women’s race, two other runners were close to her, but she powered away in the straight and won the race by three metres.
