Cathy Freeman in 2000 at the Olympic Games in Sydney became the first competing athlete to be invited to light the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony. She then went on to win the gold medal in the 400m, realizing a life-long dream.

Cathy Freeman is a proud Kuku Yalanji and Birri Gubba woman. She is also an Australian Indigenous Olympic champion. She ran her first race when she was five and realised that she loved the way racing made her feel. She won her first gold medal at a School Athletics Championships when she was eight years old.

Cathy was a member of the gold medal-winning 4x100m relay team at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, and in so doing became the first female Indigenous Australian to win a gold medal at an international athletics event. She was awarded Young Australian of the Year in 1991 and a year later in Barcelona became the first Indigenous Australian to represent Australia at an Olympic Games.

Two years later, Cathy won gold in both the 200m and 400m at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. At the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, she won silver with a personal best time in the 400m. She was crowned World Champion in the same event at the World Athletic Championships the following year, was awarded Australian of the Year in 1998, and was again World Champion in the 400m in 1999.  

Cathy’s most notable achievement, however, came in 2000 at the Olympic Games in Sydney. Her image was beamed into millions of homes around the world when she became the first competing athlete to be invited to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony. She then went on to win the gold medal in the 400m, realizing a life-long dream.

Cathy also spent 15 years building the Cathy Freeman Foundation, which commenced in 2007, where the focus was on supporting Indigenous children experience their potential in school and beyond and realise their dreams.

The Cathy Freeman Foundation delivers five educational programs designed to inspire 1,600 children to realise their own gold medal journey. Since 2007, the Cathy Freeman Foundation has partnered with remote Indigenous communities and schools to help build education pathways that work. The Foundation currently works with seven schools in four remote Indigenous communities in Palm Island and Woorabinda (Queensland) and Galiwin’ku and Wurrumiyanga (Northern Territory). In 2016, Cathy was appointed a member of the IOC Sport and Active Society Commission.

Along her way, Cathy has collected some major awards and honours. They include Australia of the Year in 1998, Australian Sports Medal in 2000, Centenary Medal in 2001, Medal of the Order of Australia, received the Olympic Order (from Juan Antonio Samaranch) & Sportswoman of the Year in 2001 and Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2005.

Achievements:

1990 Commonwealth Games, Auckland, New Zealand – Gold medal 4 x 100m.

1991 Awarded Young Australian of the Year.

1994 Commonwealth Games, Victoria, Canada – Gold medal 200m and 400m.

1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta, USA – Silver medal 400m.

1997 World Athletic Championships, Athens, Greece – Gold medal 400m.

1998 Awarded Australian of the Year.

1999 World Athletic Championships, Seville, Spain – Gold medal 400m.

2000 Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia – Gold medal 400m. Also lit the Olympic flame.

2001 Awarded Laureus Sportswoman of the Year.

2001 Recipient of the ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

2001 Awarded Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

2001 Awarded Centenary Medal.

2001 Inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport Living Legends Hall of Fame.

2002 Commonwealth Games, Manchester, England – Gold medal 4 x 400m.

2005 Inducted into The Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

2007 Founded the Cathy Freeman Foundation.

2009 Inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.

2011 Elevated to “Legend of Australian Sport” in The Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

2015 Recipient of the IOC Women and Sport Award (Oceania).

2016 Appointed as a Member of the IOC Sport and Active Society Commission.

2018 Awarded the Australian Olympic Committee Order of Merit.