Now, Freeman is still working to make a difference to young Indigenous children, hoping they too will realise their power. For the first time, I feel the stadium, I feel the people, I feel the energy. “Those other girls were always going to have to come up against my ancestors. It’s a really powerful force,” she reflected. My ancestors were the first people to walk on this land. Of the moments before the race, Freeman said she felt her ancestors were watching over her. I thought, why don’t people smile back at me! Quietly, it really devastated me.” I could never understand why, whenever I smiled at someone, they wouldn’t smile back. “An Indigenous kid sort of grew up with that self-image. “I was a kid who was quite embarrassed to be a Black kid,” she said in the film. In September 2020, to mark the 20-year anniversary of her win, a documentary titled Freeman was released, detailing Freeman’s childhood, her personal reflections as an elite athlete and the broader impact of her journey on Australia as a whole. Freeman won the gold medal with a time of 50.38 seconds. : Cathy Freeman of Australia celebrates with both Australian and Aboriginal flags after winning the 400 metres final during the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. “It seems like the whole of Australia has a smile on its face,” a commentator can be heard saying over the broadcast. Moments later, to a stadium full of people celebrating her momentous win, Freeman would take her victory lap, holding high, as she did controversially at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, both the Australian and Aboriginal flags. She’s deeply concentrated, aware she’s carrying the weight of a nation that so desperately needs something to unite them. With the crowd erupting and thousands of Australian flags being waved in the air, the camera zooms in on Freeman’s face. Watching the YouTube footage of the race back now, 20 years on, it’s hard to believe Freeman held so much on her shoulders. Joshua Dumas and Auntie Ada Jarrett from south of Goondawindi Apon reaching Darling Harbour. Credit: Nick Moir/Fairfax Media via Getty Images. They waved Aboriginal Flags underneath the word “Sorry” scrawled across the sky. ![]() Men, women and children adorned in red, black and yellow took to the streets on a cold winter’s day to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Just months prior, in May 2020, hundreds of thousands of Australians marched for a more reconciled country and for the recognition of the immense ill-treatment of its First People. Not only was the tournament being held in Freeman’s home country-set in Sydney, Australia-but her story was one that was uniting the nation. “The event you’re about to see is being called the race of our lives,” said a TV presenter ahead of the 2000 Olympic Games 400m finals, in which 27-year-old Aboriginal sprinter Cathy Freeman was competing. ![]() : Cathy Freeman of Australia is elated after winning Gold in the 400m Final during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |