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Pride of the land

26 September 2000 - This was Australia's longest minute. This was the breathless, unforgettable minute. The 112,524 people at Olympic Park last night - a record for the stadium - will never forget it.

Few Australians can ever forget it. This was the minute when the nation's heart leapt in the breast and thudded against the ribs like a muffled drum, when the nation's gut churned.

There can never have been a minute quite like it, when so many people - millions at Homebush Bay, in their homes and public places - focused their will and good wishes on a single young woman doing what she loves and does best.

No man is an island, as John Donne famously wrote, but this woman was an island last night.

All the wellwishers in the world could do nothing for her. They could only hope for great things, while fearing disappointment. They could only hope that the weight of their love for her solitary crusade would not weigh her down. It did not.

Cathy Freeman burnt away from Lorraine Graham of Jamaica and Katharine Merry of Great Britain to win the 400 metres gold medal. This was Australia's 100th Olympic gold medal and no athlete would wear the honour more appropriately.

Freeman carried the Australian and Aboriginal flags in a victory lap around this great stadium and nobody could deny her the right this time to do it. She had lit the cauldron in one act of reconciliation. Last night we saw another such act.

When the runners were announced at 8.07, the roar that greeted Freeman's name seemed to shake the stadium. When she flashed across the line in her hooded bodysuit at 8.11, the roar rose from the throat of Australia.

When the gold medal was presented at 9.17, Freeman's face moved with great emotion one moment and utter bliss the next. She sang the national anthem with the biggest accompanying choir ever assembled in Australia. Then she took the bouquet of Australian flowers to her mother, Cecelia, whose face was wet with pride and joy.

Who knows where last night's story began. Was it when Cathy's grandmother, Alice Sibley, was taken from her parents to Palm Island, off the Queensland coast? Could this injustice have created iron for the granddaughter's soul?

Was it when Catherine's stepfather, Bruce Barber, told her at 10 years that she would run in the Olympics? He told the girl that she "was like a stone that needed to be polished", that she "needed to be buffed and well cared for". Was it when a vocational guidance officer asked Freeman, aged 14, what she wanted to do when she left school and the girl said: "I want to win gold medals at the Olympic Games"?

Was it on a flight from England in 1993, when she wondered about her future and the hard work? "I thought about the pressure, the training, the Aboriginal thing. Then I remembered everyone is human and you're allowed to try and make something of your life, tackle it with your heart, soul and guts and nothing less. That way it was all up to me. But was I capable of doing it?"

Or was it four years ago in Atlanta, when Freeman was run down by Marie-Jose Perec and vowed to try again in Sydney?

Probably half of Freeman's 27-year-old life, then, has been a preparation for last night, when she established herself as a great athlete.

Although she cares not for fame, she is pretty famous, too.

The crowd roared all the way through her victory lap.

In some years' time, when people are growing old, they will remember watching the Cathy Freeman performance on September 25, 2000, even if they were not at Olympic Park.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

This will help bring black and white together, say her parents

September 26, 2000 - Cathy Freeman's historic Olympic gold medal will enhance the reconciliation process in Australia, her mother and stepfather believe.

Cecelia and Bruce Barber watched from the start of the home straight at the Olympic stadium as Freeman thrilled the nation with her triumph in the women's 400m last night.

In winning, she became the first Aborigine to win an Olympic track-and-field gold medal.

After the victory, Freeman picked out her parents in the crowd during her victory lap.

''She's the [person who] brought the people of Australia to come together as one group,'' her stepfather said last night.

''Whether it is Anglo-Saxon, Asian or whatever, she's admired by so many people. So many people have respect for her.''

Her mother said the victory was a symbolic one for Aborigines. ''She's an inspiration to everyone,'' she said.

Freeman's husband, Sandy Boedecker, said: ''It's the best feeling I've ever had. I'm just so proud of her [with] everything she's gone through [and] with all the stuff she's had to carry on her shoulders [but] she's just been so focused.''

Cecelia said she was always confident that her daughter would win Olympic gold.

''It was like a dream come true. It is a dream come true for her and for us.''

Bruce said the whole family was confident of success last night. ''Ever since I realised she had the ability I always believed she would win a gold medal,'' he said. ''And I believe she still has the capacity to do even greater things.''

Other members of her family watched the race on television at a pub in the runner's home town of Mackay, confident she would win gold. Freeman's cousin, Roya Collins, said the north Queensland town was bursting with nerves and pride.

''She trained so hard for it, I am so proud of her,'' she told ABC radio. ''I had butterflies, I felt like I was going to race. Yeah, I was so nervous. [But] we knew she was going to win.''

As she did her lap of honour, Freeman carried the Australian and Aboriginal flags.

Her cheer squad in Mackay also had an Aboriginal theme, with a didgeridoo playing in the background as more than 50 family and friends watched the two-time world champion win gold. And they were not far from Freeman's mind at the end of the race.

''I am going to share that Olympic gold medal with my husband and my family - my fa-mi-ly,'' Freeman told journalists.

Collins said Freeman's clan had been behind her.

''We all supported her,'' she said. ''I remember when we were younger we used to do raffles, lamington drives. I think she remembers all that.

''She'll come home and show us the medal like she did with the silver [from Atlanta]. You just want to squeeze her, you really just want to hold her and squeeze her.''

Source: AAP

Her next run? Make it for office, say indigenous leaders

By Debra Jopson

26 September 2000 - After ''cooee-ing, yelling and jumping up and down'' as she watched from her bed as Cathy Freeman won last night, author Ruby Langford Ginibi said the athlete should talk to her elders about becoming a politician.

''This and the thing with her lighting the flame shows how great we really could be if we were one nation - and I don't mean like Pauline Pantsdown's - united in equality,'' said Ginibi.

''Oh my God, it was beautiful. My son had to give me an icecream to cool me down.''

Limited by a painful ''dirty old hip'', she yelled out encouragement from her Eagle Vale bedroom in Brisbane to the woman she lovingly calls ''Catie'' and said she had sent her a letter saying ''Every time you run, the spirit of Aboriginal Australia and the whole of Australia runs with you''.

Ginibi had never been worried about Freeman succeeding in tough conditions. ''She's a Koori. We love the wind and the rain. We're earth people and we're close to mother earth and all her dramas.''

Mr Gary Ella, SOCOG's program manager for indigenous affairs said: ''It was great to be an Aboriginal Australian in the crowd.''

A former rugby international, it was the loudest cheering he had ever heard, but most heartening of all was the cheering that showed that Freeman's fellow Australians wanted her to carry the Aboriginal and national flags.

After the race, people kept slapping him and Ms Lowitja O'Donoghue, the head of SOCOG's national indigenous advisory committee, on the back and saying ''Well done''.

Ms Carol Kendall, a member of the National Sorry Day Committee who watched Freeman race from a NSW Government suite at the stadium, concurred that she would be a ''wonderful'' politician, but she should shun the Coalition and take time choosing between Labor and the Australian Democrats.

''She's just the darling of everybody, whether they be black or white,'' Ms Kendall said.

''To think we've got so many of our kids watching her. Even if she didn't win tonight, she's won for me, because she comes out there to put her all into it and I just think that she's amazing.

''She has that persona ... of the kid from the bush, from Queensland. She's not pretentious. She's not a big shot. She just goes out there and does it and has a good time doing it.''

Ms O'Donoghue, who flew from Adelaide and waved an Aboriginal flag at the stadium for the Freeman dash, said it was not a moment for considering the athlete as a politician.

It was the night for marking her great personal achievement.

Freeman was an inspiration who had sent the message to Aboriginal people watching that ''if she can make it, so can they,'' Ms O'Donoghue said.

''She came from country Queensland. People have got to understand that she hasn't come from power and privilege. She has come from the grass roots like many Aboriginal people who'll be watching.''

Aborigines nationwide made a special effort to see their idol.

At Adelaide airport yesterday morning, Ms O'Donoghue met health workers who were driving to Coober Pedy with the televised race as their deadline. ''Everybody'd be tuned in and this is right out in the middle of Australia,'' she said.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission's chairman, Mr Geoff Clark, who was in the stadium, said: ''Cathy had nothing to prove to us tonight. Her win is a personal triumph. I'd imagine for her it was the sweetest victory of all.''

Win or lose, she was already worth her weight in gold to all Australians, especially indigenous people.

''Her victory shows that when our people are properly resourced and supported they can achieve at the highest levels possible,'' Mr Clark said.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

As we leave darker days behind, Freeman's win is so important

By Peter Fitzsimons

26 September 2000 - The reporter from Britain's Independent Television Network came straight to the point as the cameras rolled: just why is it so incredibly important to you Australians that Cathy Freeman wins this particular gold medal?

Good question.

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind left in Cathy's blistering wake, but as I write, I think it goes something like this.

It's important because she's a fantastic Australian athlete who was good enough to win Olympic gold; because it seemed like her destiny to do so; and because as Australians, we wanted to see her do it! Rah! Rah! Rah!

It's important because, well beyond all that, we are a nation with a deeply troubled past on the Aboriginal front and at this moment, as a country, we are trying to reconcile that troubled past with a far brighter future. Cathy Freeman is the best-known Aborigine in the land and, in some way, having her blast her way to the top of the podium while we cheered ourselves hoarse felt like it helped to hasten the healing.

(This answer can no doubt be picked apart on a dozen intellectual fronts, but emotionally it feels close to the money.)

I say it's important because hers is a story that demands that for an ending. We've been following that story for 10years ever since she burst on to the scene as a 16-year-old kid from Queensland who, after sending away for a How To Run Fast book as a kid, proceeded to win gold in the Auckland Commonwealth Games as her launching pad. We watched her rise from there to prominence purely by constantly winning such a high-octane event as the 400metres against the best the world could throw at her.

We observed how, from shy beginnings, her confidence grew to the point where she was happy to drape herself in the Aboriginal flag for a victory lap and damn the consequences; how she was able to keep on winning despite such things as a distressing legal suit with a former lover/coach.

After a past like that, the only true perfect ending possible was for her to win an Olympic gold medal on home soil.

Dickens would want it, Banjo Paterson would want it, Spielberg would want it, and we wanted it, dammit!

It's important because she is a sports personality who we really like; a young woman who some time in the past few years went from simply Cathy Freeman to the far more intimate ''Our Cathy'', and she is no less than the nation's favourite daughter.

If you were to bottle the emotion that Grant Hackett's mum felt when her boy won the 1500metres on Saturday afternoon, and compare it with what the nation as a whole feels this morning, I reckon they'd show up as being something akin.

It's important because, while it has been terrific to see Australia win gold medals in all sorts of different fields from shooting to water polo, Freeman's in the 400m felt like a gold medal AAA, perhaps because the country hasn't seen one of those since Debbie Flintoff-King won one in the 400m hurdles in 1988.

Finally, it's important because it just is, that's all.

No, she didn't cure cancer, absolutely she didn't alleviate world hunger all on her own.

But have a look around you as the nation wildly celebrates her Olympic victory.

That, in itself, is no mean feat and proof positive that we have come a long, long way from the darker days of our past.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

With Australia all aflutter, PM endorses Cathy's two flags

26 September 2000 - Cathy Freeman's decision to carry the Aboriginal and national flags after her 400 metres triumph was ''terrific'', John Howard said today.

The Prime Minister said that Freeman, the first Aborigine to win an Olympic track and field gold medal, was naturally proud of being an indigenous Australian.

''I think that's terrific,'' he told ABC radio. ''I've never had any qualms about that; she's proud of her Aboriginality and she's proud of being an Australian.

''[Carrying both flags was] a perfectly natural thing to do, and I don't think anyone would be in the least concerned about it.''

Howard said the Games had brought Australians together, but he stopped short of saying Freeman's victory was a reconciliation milestone. ''Look, I think everybody's happy for her and very happy for what it represents,'' he said. ''She's a role model to young Australians, Aboriginal Australians and other Australians. And I think everybody is extremely happy, and what these Games have done is to dissolve differences and bring Australians closer together.''

Howard said that he would personally tell Freeman that she had made Australia proud.

He said he was privileged to have witnessed so many achievements by Australians during the Games.

The Opposition Leader, Kim Beazley, who watched the race at a sports bar in Ballarat, where he is attending an ALP function, said Freeman was magnificent.

''As a politician, what you would say is that it was 400 metres of national reconciliation,'' he said.

''As a human being, this was the greatest athletic achievement by an Australian in a very, very long time. She carried the weight of expectation on her shoulders so lightly and so competently, she just made you proud to be an Australian.''

Source: AAP

related links :

• Olympic victory defines Freeman career
  17 July 2003 - Daily Mirror (UK) - Not only did she have to carry the hopes of Australia's track and field team at an Olympics on home soil but also the aspirations of an entire people. As Australia's most prominent Aboriginal sports person, Freeman had been thrust into the country's 200-year struggle for reconciliation between blacks and whites when she carried the Aboriginal flag on a lap of honour during the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada -- in breach of team rules.
• Freeman hangs up golden spikes
  16 July, 2003 - Guardian (UK) - Cathy Freeman, who came to symbolise the 2000 Sydney Olympics by lighting the flame at the opening ceremony and then fulfilling the hopes of Australia by striking gold in the 400 metres, announced her retirement last night.
• Flame of Freedom burns in Victoria Park
  The last time an Aboriginal campfire burned in Victoria Park could well have been more than 200 years ago. The Gadigal tribe of the Eora people, traditional Aboriginal inhabitants of the area now known as Sydney's inner west, are known to have used the park as a meeting place long before European settlement. The fire then would have been for utility and warmth as well as a place to gather in tribal community.
• Flame of reconciliation ends its trek to Sydney
  The Olympic torch is not the only flame that has traversed New South Wales. The alternative flame is a humble glow - it was not accompanied by a convoy of shiny vehicles, you can't buy it, and famous people are not queueing to run with it.It's a small flame, flickering on a piece of old wood cradled to the chest of Kevin "Uncle Kev" Buzzacott, a South Australian Arabunna elder.
• Aboriginal cry for freedom echoes cries for Freeman
  Guardian, 26/09/2000 - David Hopps watches the race in a makeshift inner-city 'tented embassy'. At the Aboriginal tented embassy in Sydney's Victoria Park, safeguards were being taken to ensure Cathy Freeman's victory.

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