News28 Jan 1998


Cathy Freeman: Australian of the Year

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Cathy Freeman (AUS) after winning the 400m gold medal at the 1997 IAAF World Championships (© Getty Images)

Sunday, 400m world champion Cathy Freeman received a singular honour when she became the only person in the history of the Australia Day awards to have won both Australian of the Year and Young Australian of the Year awards.

In August last year, Freeman became the first Aborigine ever to win a world title when she won the gold medal in the 400m in the 6th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Athens '97 with a time of 49.77.

This followed on from her silver medal in the Olympics in Atlanta in the same event.

Her main target now is to go on to the Sydney 2000 Olympics and take gold in the 400m: "I've never wanted anything so much. I've come this far, I may as well go all the way", she said after news of the award was made public.

The award was announced by Australian Prime Minister on Sunday at a lunch to mark the Australia Day celebrations and follows the 1990 award as Young Australian of the Year.

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