The character arc of Cathy Freeman
Born 16 February 1973 in Mackay, Queensland, of the Kuku Yalanji and Birri Gubba peoples. Between then and now sit trophies withheld from an Aboriginal girl for being Aboriginal, a first gold at sixteen shadowed within days by her sister's death, two flags carried on a victory lap against official orders, a silver that stung, and one night in Sydney when a whole country held its breath. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Cathy Freeman?
Warned to lower one flag, she raised both.
She grew up in and around Mackay in regional Queensland, running before she had proper spikes, coached first by her stepfather Bruce Barber. As a child she won her races and was handed nothing, because the trophies were kept for white girls. Her older sister Anne-Marie, born with cerebral palsy, was the person she ran for. In 1990, at sixteen, she led off the relay that made her the first Aboriginal Australian to win Commonwealth gold. Days later Anne-Marie died. The joy and the loss arrived almost together, and both stayed with her.
At the 1994 Commonwealth Games she won the 400 metres and ran her victory lap carrying the Aboriginal flag beside the Australian one. A team official ordered her to stop. She won the 200 metres and did it again. The gesture split opinion at home and then settled into something like pride. Two years later she took silver in Atlanta behind Marie-Jose Perec, a result she has said she made a target rather than a wound, and world titles in Athens and Seville followed.
On 15 September 2000 she lit the Olympic cauldron in Sydney, and on 25 September, in front of her home crowd and a watching nation, she won the 400 metres final. She ran her lap with both flags again, this time with the country behind her. She retired in 2003 and built her foundation, working to close the education gap for Indigenous children in remote communities. Her line is worth reading because the girl refused a trophy became the person a nation asked to carry its flame.
The moments
Cathy Freeman's timeline.
The 1980s
Trophies she could not win
Setback, and it changed her direction. She won her races as a girl and was handed nothing, because the trophies were reserved for white girls.
The 1990s
Gold at sixteen
Milestone. Leading off the relay in Auckland, she became the first Aboriginal Australian to win Commonwealth gold.
Her sister Anne-Marie died
Setback, and it changed everything. Days after the Auckland gold, her older sister, born with cerebral palsy, died of an asthma attack.
Two flags on the lap
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She won the 400 metres and ran her lap with the Aboriginal and Australian flags, then did it again after the 200, against an official's order.
Carry the flag, or comply
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: carry both flags, taken, or fly only the Australian flag. The Prime Minister called it a moment for reconciliation, and six years later she was chosen to light the flame in Sydney.
Silver in Atlanta
Setback, and it changed her direction. Second behind Marie-Jose Perec in 48.63. She has said she turned the near miss into a target for Sydney.
First world title
Milestone. World champion over 400 metres in Athens, the first of two straight titles.
World champion again
Milestone. A second world title in Seville, carrying the favourite's weight into her home Olympics.
The 2000s
Lighting the Olympic flame
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Chosen to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony, standing in a ring of water as the flame rose.
Gold at home
Milestone, and it changed everything. She won the 400 metres in 49.11 before her home crowd, then took her lap with both flags.
She stepped away
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She retired from the track at thirty, her Olympic promise kept.
The foundation begins
Milestone. She set up her foundation to help close the education gap for Indigenous children in remote communities.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it set moving is already everywhere: the children her foundation is helping through school, and every person who was told to lower their flag and decided to raise it higher.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
Hers runs from a withheld trophy to an Olympic flame, and it is still being drawn. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Cathy Freeman, Wikipedia.
- Cathy Freeman, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- Cathy Freeman, National Museum of Australia, Defining Moments.
- Cathy Freeman, athlete profile, Olympics.com and the Australian Olympic Committee.
- The Commonwealth Games records, Auckland 1990 and Victoria 1994.