Cathy Freeman

Catherine Astrid Salome "Cathy" Freeman, OAM (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 mètres  event. She would occasionally compete in other track events, but 400m was her main event.

 Freeman was the first Australian Indigenous person to become a Commonwealth Games gold mettallist at age 16 in 1990. 1994 was her breakthrough season. At the 1994 commewealht Games in Canada, Freeman won gold in both the 200m and 400 m.

She also won the Wilder medal in the 1996 Olympics and came first at the 1997 World Championships, in the 400 m event.

Cathy Freeman began athletics at the age of 2.

Her first coach was her stepfather, Bruce Barber. By her early teens she had a collection of regional and national titles, having competed in the 100m, 200 m, High jump and long jump.