Cathy Freeman

Cathy Freeman is an Australian sprinter who specialised in the 400 meter sprint. Her personal best is 48.63 seconds which puts her as the 8th fastest woman in the world of all time!! She has done a lot for her country and the Aboriginal community.

Early Life

Cathy Freeman’s full name is Catherine Astrid Salmone Freeman. Cathy Freeman was born on 16 of February 1973 in Queensland Australia. Cathy married James Merch in 2009. James is a stockbroker. Cathy was married to Sandy Bodecker from 1999 to 2003. Cathy has two siblings, Anne-Marie Freeman and Gavin Freeman. She also has a little girl called Ruby who is 10 years old.

Sporting Life

Cathy Freeman won her first running race at the age of 8 and continued from then on. Cathy was the first person of Aboriginal descent to win a Gold medal in the 400 meter sprint at the Commonwealth Games in 1990. Cathy was just 16 years old. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Cathy Freeman carried both the Australian flag and the Aboriginal flag in her victory lap which caused controversy. Cathy Freeman represented Australia at the Olympic Games in 2000 in Sydney, Australia,and won a Gold medal. She was also the first person of Aboriginal desent to light the Olympic flame in the 2000 Olympic Games.

Cathy Freeman was a good role model because she worked hard and proved to the world that she could do anything. She inspires lots of people around the world to never give up! She trained very hard and when she won her first race in the Commonwealth Games in 1994 she figured out that all that hard work paid off.

Cathy Freeman sadly retired on the 1 of July 2003. Even though Cahty retired doesn't mean that she stopped inspiring people around the world.

Cathy Freeman Foundation

In 2007 Cathy established her foundation called the Cathy Freeman Foundation. The Cathy Freeman Foundation supports Indiginous students' education to help them do their best at school.

The Foundation acknowledges the indigenous communities that are far away from the main cities. It does work for over 1600 communities in very remote areas such as Palm Island in northern Queensland, Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island in the Northern Territory,Woorabinda in central Queensland and Galiwin’ku in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.

The staff in the Cathy Freeman foundation spend time one on one with their students in the classroom with workshops that inspire them, give them confidence and resilience and celebrate culture. The Cathy Freeman foundation encourages children to aim to someday reach their own gold medal just like Cathy.

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathy_Freeman

https://www.cathyfreemanfoundation.org.au/

https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/freeman-catherine-cathy-15410

https://www.cathyfreemanfoundation.org.au/about-us