![]() Freeman in 2008 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman |
Born | Mackay, Queensland, Australia | 16 February 1973
Education | Kooralbyn International school Fairholme College |
Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
Occupation | Australian sprinter/runner |
Height | 164 cm (5 ft 5 in) |
Weight | 56 kg (8 st 11 lb; 123 lb)[1] |
Spouse |
Sandy Bodecker
(m. 1999; div. 2003)James Murch
(m. 2009; sep. 2024) |
Sport | |
Country | Australia |
Sport | Sprint |
University team | University of Melbourne |
Coached by | Step-father Bruce Barber, Mike Danila, Peter Fortune |
Retired | 1 July 2003 |
Medal record |
Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman OAM (born 16 February 1973) is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event.[2] Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-four time at the 1996 Olympics.[3] She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.[4]
Freeman was the first Indigenous Australian person to become a Commonwealth Games gold medalist at age 16 in 1990.[5] The year 1994 was her breakthrough season. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, Freeman won gold in both the 200 m and 400 m. She also won the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics and came first at the 1997 World Championships in the 400 m event. In 1998, Freeman took a break from running due to injury. She returned from injury in form with a first-place finish in the 400 m at the 1999 World Championships. She announced her retirement from athletics in 2003.
In 2007, she founded the Cathy Freeman Foundation, which changed names twice (to Community Spirit Foundation[6] and later to Murrup[7]). She was of the Kuku-yalanji and Birri-gubba peoples.[8]