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cathy freeman my australian of the year by tom eizenberg

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introduction cathy freeman has 4 tattoos a rose on her ankle hearts on her stomach and a green frog on her foot but the most interesting says cos i m free on her top part of her arm this tattoo was written about in a song by andy white and sung by christine anu why `cos i m free because cathy is free to do whatever she likes and to feel good about herself she thinks everyone should feel the same it s no wonder she is such a role model to all australians cathy got to be young australian of the year in 1990 and also got australian of the year in 1998 she was the first australian to get both awards.

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timeline · 16 feb 1973 ­ catherine astrid salome freeman was born in mackay · 1983 moved to hughenden that is in north west queensland · 1984 moved to moura queensland · 1985 moved to coppabella queensland · 1986 moved back to mackay · 1988 got scholarship to a private school · 1990 ­ auckland commonwealth games · 1990 ­ young australian of the year · 1992 ­ first olympics at barcelona · 1994 ­ victoria commonwealth games · 1996 ­ atlanta olympic games · 1998 ­ australian of the year · 2000 ­ sydney olympic games · 2000 australian sport medal · 2000 ­ won laureus world sportswoman of the year · 2001 ­ order of australia medal · 15 july 2003 cathy announces her retirement · 2007 ­ started the cathy freeman foundation · 2009 ­ cathy married james murch · july 8 2011 ­ cathy has a baby girl named ruby

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childhood catherine astrid salome freeman was born on the 16th february 1973 in mackay queensland when cathy was young her parents norman and cecilia had four other kids the oldest kid is gavin then came anne-marie norman and garth cathy freeman started running for fun when she was 5 she always ran in bare feet cathy freemans first race was at a school athletics carnival it was 80 meters and she won the race cathy s dad norman played football and went all over queensland to play with the team and cathy freeman s grandfather was a good rugby league player too her dad norman left the family 1978 and did not come back later cathy s mum married bruce barber who became cathy s first running coach cathy always said that bruce was her greatest influence.

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cathy loved her brothers and sisters especially her sister anne-marie who had cerebral palsy anne marie died when she was only 24 at her funeral cathy promised that she would run every race in the future for her favourite sister althletic career cathy s first race was an 80-metre race for eight year olds at st joseph s school she almost missed her race because she was poked in her eye with a piece of wire in the end she got in the race and won it and helped her school sport house when she was eleven she was well known and was in the newspapers all the time and the newspapers called her a wonder girl cathy s club was the slade point amateur athletics club which now has a track called the cathy freeman athletics track in 1988 cathy was given a scholarship to an exclusive college in toowoomba called fairholme college that was a boarding school she was one of three aboriginal kids in the school and the school had over six hundred children while cathy was at this school she was able to have professional coaching in 1988 cathy freeman and her brother norman who was also a good runner got into an international athletics

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exchange which they got to go to the united states america in 1990 cathy went to her first commonwealth games in auckland new zealand and won her first gold medal she ran in the 100 metre relay team she was the first aboriginal to win a commonwealth gold medal and was only 16 years old in 1992 cathy became the first aboriginal australian to compete at an olympic games this was in barcelona she didn t win any medals cathy also ran in the commonwealth games in canada in 1994 she won two gold medals in 1996 she also ran in the atlanta olympic games where she won a silver medal.

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sydney 2000 olympics at the sydney olympics that was in 2000 cathy was able to light the olympic flame that she said was a big honour at these olympics cathy freeman got her first olympic gold medal and the best part is that she got it in sydney that is her country when she was young she dreamt that she would win a gold medal and at the 2000 olympic games she won a gold medal in front of more then 10000 fans she won it running in the 400m race her favourite race it was her dream come true when cathy won her race she celebrated by carrying the australian and the aboriginal flags together she did this so she could bring aboriginal and australian people together.

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australian of the year award people who win australian of the year are people who make australians proud of being australian of course cathy freeman was perfect to be given this award when she won the australian of the year award in 1998 cathy said she ran for all australians and in particular the aboriginal people cathy also won young australian of the year in 1990 when she was only 17 she is the only person who has won both awards cathy was one of the best runners in the world and has inspired lots of kids to become runners.

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after retirement after lots of injuries on july the 15th 2003 cathy freeman said that she was retiring from athletics after cathy stopped running she set up the cathy freeman foundation her goal was to create a brighter future for indigenous children through educational opportunities cathy freeman started the cathy freeman foundation because she wanted indigenous kids to get together with white australian kids so that all australians can get the same education education is important because you can then get better jobs and more money and have a better life everyone deserves to be equal.

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conclusion in her book `born to run cathy says i ve learnt that anyone no matter who they are can make the most of what they have i was born with a good body for running but i also had a dream ­ the dream to be the very best i could be cathy freeman has done a lot in her life she won olympic and commonwealth games medals became australian of the year and helped lots of people but the most important thing she has done is to make people follow their dreams.

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costume drama cathy freeman s olympic bodysuit missing by bruce mcdougall from the daily telegraph september 15 2010 after lighting the cauldron to open the best ever olympic games in front of 110,000 cheering spectators freeman quietly stripped off her skin-tight bodysuit in a room behind the stadium but in one of the enduring mysteries of the sydney 2000 games the suit then disappeared and has not been seen since yesterday as the daily telegraph found the historic torch used by freeman to light the cauldron her agent bronwyn madigan revealed they wanted the suit found so it could be put on display for posterity absolutely we would love to see it turn up ms madigan said adding that someone involved in the games preparations should be able to help when freeman enthralled the nation winning gold in the 400m the suit she wore in the race became more famous than the one used for the opening ceremony no one knows where it is she gave it [the cauldron suit back ms madigan said yesterday it was one of those frantic evenings now after 10 years everyone is realising how great that moment [lighting the cauldron was the designer who made freeman s lycra suit jennifer irwin said it was last seen hanging on a peg in the dressing room freeman s torch along with 750 items of memorabilia from the sydney games is now stored in seven buildings at the powerhouse discovery centre at castle hill the items include costumes worn by kylie minogue and nikki webster and models of the olympic mascots syd the platypus millie the echidna and olly the kookaburra freeman s cauldron torch is kept in a special drawer with a glass top the 2.8ha site set up as a museum in 2007 has already had more than 60,000 visitors manager christopher snelling said there were also models from the tin symphony the captain cook segment the prawn on a bike and costumes of the lawn mower men this is one of the most comprehensive olympic collections mr snelling said.

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references websites www.cathyfreemanfoundation.org.au www.cathyfreeman.com.au http en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cathy_freeman http waltzingmorethanmatilda.com/2011/09/25/ruby anne-susie-murch-a-daughter-for-cathy-freeman-and james-murch http users.chariot.net.au byoung/freeman.htm www.australianoftheyear.org.au news article http www.news.com.au/national/costume-drama cathy-freemans-olympic-bodysuit-missing/story-e6frfkvr 1225923194479#ixzz1qd9fa1s9 book freeman c 2007 born to run penguin group publishers

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