Cathy Freeman

Won 400m Olympic gold in Sydney 2000.

Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman was born on 16 February 1973 in Mackay, Queensland, Australia, a woman of the Kuku Yalanji and Birri Gubba peoples, and began competitive running on the advice of her stepfather, Bruce Barber, who first coached her. Freeman became the first Aboriginal Commonwealth Games gold medallist at just 16, winning the 4x100m relay at the 1990 Auckland Games, and later became the first Aboriginal track and field athlete to represent Australia at an Olympic Games, at Barcelona in 1992. Freeman won silver in the 400m at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in one of the greatest one-lap races in history, before becoming a two-time World Champion in 1997 and 1999, and was chosen to light the Olympic cauldron at the Sydney 2000 opening ceremony, a landmark moment celebrating both women's sport and Indigenous heritage. Freeman delivered the defining performance of her life at the Sydney 2000 Games, winning the 400m final in front of over 100,000 fans to become the athlete of the Games, before completing a victory lap carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags. She retired in 2003, and established the Catherine Freeman Foundation in 2007 to support Indigenous children's education, with Sydney's Olympic Stadium later naming a grandstand in her honour.

Powerful stride, exceptional speed endurance, tactical racing

Symbol of reconciliation and inspiration for Indigenous Australians

• 2000 Olympic gold 400m
• 1997,1999 World champ 400m