22/03/2026
"I wanted to be an Olympic champion and I didnât care about the goings-on around me. In my heart and with all of my soul I was ready, willing and I was very able"
"I had a deadly sense of self-belief. Iâd go to another level and say I had a deadly sense of self-conviction where you can say whatever you want, you can do whatever you want but youâre not going to touch me"
"Cathy Freemanâs mother, Cecelia, of the Kuku Yalanji people, was born on Palm Island. Her father, Norman âTwinkletoesâ Freeman, of the Birra Gubba mob, was born at Woorabinda in Queensland"
"Cathy Freeman was born in Mackay in 1973. Always proud of her ancestry, Freeman hoped her success as an athlete would be an inspiration to all Aboriginal children"
"Family is important to Freeman. Her first coach was her stepfather, Bruce Barber. And after winning her gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, the image in her mind was of her older sister, Anne-Marie, who had been born with cerebral palsy"
"Anne-Marie had died from an asthma attack in 1990, three days after 16-year-old Freeman won her first gold medal at the Auckland Commonwealth Games"
"Freeman was keenly aware of the many injustices done to Aboriginal people. Her grandmother was part of the Stolen Generations, forcibly taken away from her family at the age of eight'
"Freeman was upset the Howard government had refused to issue an apology for this policy. As she told the London Daily Telegraph after winning the Sydney 2000 Olympics 400 m :
"You have to understand that when you have a government that is so insensitive to the issues that are close to peopleâs hearts, that have affected so many lives for the worse, people are going to be really angry and emotional"
âSomewhere deep inside, Iâd absorbed
all the pain and suffering my people had
endured and turned it into a source of
strength.â â Cathy Freeman
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CATHY FREEMAN MURRUP - incredible work helping getting/keeping kids in school.
See website for details and how to make a DONATION https://www.murrup.org.au/our-story đ€
Image: "Cathy Freeman 1994 Commonwealth Games victory lap with the Aboriginal flag wrapped around herself â a moment that symbolised a movement" courtesy of Woman's Day