GOLDEN RUN
Cathy’s inspiration missed magic night
EVEN heroes must have heroes. Cathy Freeman inspired Australia but who inspired her?
It’s a rich, emotive story which stretches back to Freeman’s childhood in Mackay, one which gained a withering focus the day Cathy struggled to find motivation to get out of bed to train.
“Your sister can’t walk or talk … you have got two good arms and legs — go out and use them,’’ Freeman’s mother said firmly to Cathy.
Cathy was stung but also stirred. She jumped out of bed and vowed never to complain about training again.
Freeman called her older sister Anne-Marie “my guardian angel.’’
Anne-Marie was born with severe cerebral palsy and Cathy would often get to see her only a few times a year after a three-hour train trip to a Rockhampton hospital.
Anne-Marie died of an asthma attack in 1990, three days after younger sister won a gold medal at the Auckland Commonwealth Games but her inspiration lived on.
From that point Freeman dedicated her journey to Anne-Marie and perpetuated her memory by making Anne the second name of her daughter Ruby.
If Freeman had one regret about her night of glory when she won the 400m at the Sydney Olympics, it was that the person who inspired her was not there.
A few weeks after the Games, when the cheering had stopped, Cathy made a special trip to her sister’s grave, placed some flowers at her headstone and said: “Anne-Marie I did it for you.’’
THE BIG NIGHT
“Will you still love me if I lose?’’
Those were the last words Freeman spoke to her coach Peter Fortune before being shepherded into the athlete’s zone to prepare for her gold medal winning race. “Those words were serious. But I said to her ‘it won’t matter … you won’t lose’. She just had such a great temperament. She could handle anything,” Fortune said.
All this from a girl who was so shy when she had her first race as an eight-year-old in Mackay she hid in the toilets beforehand and, as later revealed in her autobiography Born To Run, only came out when her teacher said “Catherine your race is on … NOW.’’
THE DOMINATOR
A strange thing happened in Freeman’s 400m victory. The awe-inspiring lady who was the focus of a nation devoured the pressure like it was a pre-race snack but what about the women who chased her home?
Maybe it was Freeman’s recent form or the sights and thunderous sounds of 112,000 fans. Maybe it was the aura of her new super suit which made her look like Wonder Woman in spikes.
But just as Usain Bolt was shocked no-one took him on in the Olympic 200m final in Rio, the magnificent Freeman was waiting for a red-hot challenge that never arrived. She was third on the turn before floating to victory.
THE LEGACY
When Freeman raced across the line into Games folklore, a 14-year-old schoolgirl sat entranced in front of her television on the Gold Coast suddenly convinced of her life’s calling.
“When I saw Cathy run I knew from that moment I wanted to be a world champion,’’ Sally Pearson, a 2012 London Olympics hurdles gold medallist said.
Australia’s Indigenous basketball star Patty Mills was another deeply touched by the moment.
“She was my role model because of how she carried herself as an Indigenous woman,’’ Mills said.
“I wanted to be like her.’’