(Her first club was Slade Point Amateur Athletics club (Mackay), which she joined in 1984 when she was 11. The club now proudly competes on the Cathy Freeman Athletics Track.)

Sydney Olympics 2000

"Ever since 1993, when it was announced that Sydney would host the 2000 Olympic Games, Cathy Freeman had dreamt of something which few athletes even have the opportunity to achieve, winning an Olympic Gold medal in her own country. 

"As reigning world champion and with a good season prior to the Games, Freeman was clearly the favourite for the 400m at Sydney. The only real threat seemed to come from her old rival Marie-Jose Perec who had come back very well from a long illness. Perec had had an indifferent European season, unlike Freeman's, which had been very successful. Before the track competition started, Perec, who had been subjected to a lot of media attention since arriving in Sydney due to her rivalry with Freeman, suddenly, and rather mysteriously left Sydney and returned to France. 

"This now made Freeman an overwhelming favourite, and the pressure upon her must have been enormous. Although Australia had other Olympic representatives who were gold medal favourites, by far the largest media coverage was devoted to Cathy. 

"Freeman's start in the final was conservative, but she always had the race under control, winning as she liked in 49.11sec, well clear of Jamaica's Lorraine Graham (49.58sec) and Britain's Katherine Merry (49.72sec.). Almost anticlimactically, Freeman delivered two more noteworthy performances. Three days after her 400m victory she came 7th behind Marion Jones in the 200m (22.53sec), and two days after that she anchored the Australian 4 x 400m relay team to a 5th place finish in 3min. 23.81sec, breaking the Australian national record which had stood since the 1976 Olympics."

Commonwealth Games, Manchester

In early April she withdrew from the Telstra A-Championships/Commonwealth Games trials with a stress reaction in her right femur, but was still selected in the Commonwealth Games team in the 4x400m relay. 

In mid-May was given the all clear to recommence training, but on May 30, she announced her withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games due to her husband having throat cancer. On July 15, Cathy announced that she would contest the 4 x 400m relay. In a thrilling finish to the athletics program, the women's 4x400 metre relay team, Lauren Hewitt, Cathy Freeman, Tamsyn Lewis and Jana Pittman ran a sensational race, crossing the line in a new games record of 3:25.63 for the gold. Cathy clocked 51.44 on her leg. 

Commonwealth Games, Manchester 2002: Australian women's 4x400m relay team

Former Olympic champion Cathy Freeman said she would consider a return to action in the relay at next year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

But the 31-year-old said she would only try to make the team if she felt there was backing for the move.

"If there was overwhelming support for me to come back I would think about it, but not just if it was for myself," she told Australia's Sun-Herald.

"It would be enough motivation for me to get out there and try again."

"I don't think I could ever top what I felt in Sydney, and I've got too much pride.

"If I was part of the relay I'd do it, but not the individual.

"The preparation and getting fit is easy. And I don't think I could lose that competitiveness and killer instinct, I've just channelled it into other things."

Former coach Raelene Boyle said the public would back Freeman were she to return to the track but questioned the wisdom of such a move.

"It would be fantastic to see Cathy run but I believe that once you retire, you retire. When you have got a unique talent like she has, maybe it would work to try again.