Cathy Freeman OAM (b. 1973) won the 400m Olympic Gold medal in front of her home crowd in Sydney in 2000, famously carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags on her victory lap. Born in Mackay, Queensland, her mother is of the Kuku Yalanji people and her father was of the Burri Gubba people. Aged sixteen, Freeman was selected for the Australian women's 4 x 100m relay team that took out the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland. She won two more gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Canada in 1994 with victories in the 200m and 400m. The first Aboriginal track and field athlete to represent Australia at the Olympic Games, she won a silver medal in the 400m in Atlanta in 1996. She was ranked first in the world in her signature event, the 400m, in which she won back-to-back world championships in 1997 and 1999. After her retirement in 2003, she established the Cathy Freeman Foundation, which continues to enhance educational opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote communities.
Known for her playful, textured, highly coloured works, Kerrie Lester's style is well suited to the unpretentious personality of her powerful sitter. Lester worked on the portrait during breaks in Freeman's training schedule, prior to the Sydney Olympics.
Commissioned with funds provided by L Gordon Darling AC CMG 1999
© Kerrie Lester/Copyright Agency, 2021
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