Freeman (2020) - full transcript

JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH:
And the winner is...

The... the winner is Sydney.

(CHEERING)

RICHARD MORECROFT:
Australia will have the honour

of carrying the Olympic torch
into the new millennium.

QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Winning the right
to host the Olympics

almost caused Sydney
to spontaneously combust.

You know to think that we can hack
it in the big... in the big swim.

(BRASS BAND MUSIC)
(CHEERING)

CROWD: Sydney!

Promises are already being made



to deliver the 2000 Games
in spectacular fashion.

Have you measured
the 100 metres track?

It's about 100 metres.
It's about 100 metres long.

REPORTER: The stadium is the biggest
ever built for the Olympic Games.

Is the 200 metres track
ABOUT 200 metres long?

That is the most impressive stadium
I have seen in my life.

REPORTER: The Australian people
want an apology

for the injustices of the past.

We have a particular place
in this country.

We've been here since time
immemorial... (ECHOES) ..immemorial.

Happy New Year!

REPORTER: Bus lanes have appeared...

REPORTER: Never before has Australia
been the focus of so much attention.

REPORTER: The Olympics
has really arrived here.



The event you're about to see they're
calling "The Race of Our Lives".

Cathy Freeman
in the 400... (ECHOES) ..400.

(CHEERING)

CATHY FREEMAN: My running
has allowed me to walk in a light,

to be in a light, to live in a light,
that comes from within.

And it's carried me to these places
that I never thought imaginable.

(CHEERING, WHISTLING AND APPLAUSE)

When I think about
that one night in September,

for me, it takes me back to
my very first race.

Like, I remember the first time
I ever raced.

It almost felt like my feet
never touched the ground.

My body just seems to physically
be able to do it with great ease.

And I felt like I was flying,
even as a five-year-old kid.

That's where I found true peace.

And that's where I felt,
so completely free

and so completely happy.

It's a beautiful feeling.

It's almost like
falling into a slipstream

that leads you straight to heaven.

For me, it was always just such a...

..dare I say,
a spiritual experience, to be frank.

'Cause running absolutely and will
always be my first greatest love.

It's like the very first kiss
you take, with someone,

the first moment you realise,

"Oh, my God,
I'm completely gone here."

You know that feeling? (LAUGHS)

And people see it or they feel it.

It's like a chemistry, you know?

It's like when you can't take your
eyes off someone, for some reason.

There's something about them.

(STARTER'S GUN FIRES)

Just the way she ran,
I just felt, "Here is a champion."

(CHEERING)
"And we've got to help her."

Some people just move beautifully.

And she did,
just those long strides.

It was like she glided around.

There was elegance, there was...
it was just a glide.

WOMAN: She just looks like
she's floating.

You can't take your eyes off her.

MAN: I could help
a thousand other people

and they couldn't do
what Cathy Freeman could do.

'Cause she's got the magic,
she's a genius.

Her beautiful, flowing,
free, fluid style,

it's like a beautiful machine
that's well-oiled.

PAUL KENNEDY: Everything's
just so smooth and so natural,

and there's seemingly no effort.

That's how Cathy ran.

And just watching her
has been a joy.

(CHEERING)

CATHY FREEMAN: People still light up

when they talk about
that night in September.

They sparkle.

And we're talking about something
that happened so long ago.

Because the lovely thing
about this particular story

is that a lot of people
were involved in it.

I was very fortunate
in that I was born into

a very tight-knit family.

I'm one of five children.

But my mother's one of 11.

I adored my mother.

Hard-working,
dedicated to her children.

Very independent.

At times, very stubborn
and very proud.

My mother and my dad

divorced when I was
around about five years of age.

Roughly three years later,

she met my stepfather,
Bruce William Barber,

affectionately known as 'Blue Eyes'.

REPORTER: What do you think
was the big break?

Bruce had a lot to do with that.

If he hadn't have come along
at the time that he did,

I don't think that I could've had
the resources to do it on my own.

BRUCE: I didn't know anything
about athletics.

But I thought, "Well, if nothing
else, I could teach her to get fit."

It was my stepdad who encouraged me
to put up on the wall,

"I am the world's greatest athlete."

The fact that my older sister,
Anne-Marie,

she had severe cerebral palsy...

..just sitting and being with her

absolutely defined who I am,
as a person.

She passed away in 1990.

But, gee-whiz, I tell you,
the lessons she taught me,

will never leave me.

Things around respect

and not judging a book
by its bloody cover.

She says that she ran
for her sister.

That's what drove her
to succeed in what she did.

Keep on your toe. Keep on your toe.

Drive your knee.
Drive your knee higher.

The knees goes higher all the time.

REPORTER: Her first
professional coach was Mike Danila,

a Romanian defector
who couldn't believe his luck

in finding such untapped talent
in Australia.

I felt myself go down a bit.

But the one before was better.
Yeah.

She looks like without any limit.

Being epic is allowing
yourself to be tamed.

You have to do what your coach
tells you,

you have to do
what your doctor tells you,

your physio tells you,
your masseuse tells you.

Eight hours of rest,
enough water, no alcohol,

no heels, no standing
around for long time.

Untamed is being that champion
that you see yourself being.

In the mind of
a track-and-field athlete,

the pinnacle
is an Olympic gold medal.

The moon comes up every four years.

The thirst to get an Olympic
gold medal is unquenchable.

REPORTER: At 16, Catherine Freeman
is ambitious, dedicated

and very fast.

The exuberant Queenslander,

the youngest member of
the track-and-field team,

is impatient for her first taste
of international competition.

PETER FORTUNE: She was a shock entry
into the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Australia saw her burst
into the limelight.

That was my first time
I actually saw her run.

REPORTER: The first
black Australian athlete

to win gold
at the Commonwealth Games.

She was determined.
She had determination.

That's all she wanted to do
was to run.

PETER FORTUNE: She was a very
relaxed person most of the time,

and when she did switch it on,
incredible competitiveness.

Yeah, as much as I've ever seen.

The young Australian of the Year
for 1990 is Catherine Freeman.

(APPLAUSE)

There are a lot of Aboriginals and
Islanders who have so much talent.

Because of the colour of their skin,

I think they've got
this inferiority complex

which holds them back
from doing what they can do.

(CHILDREN CHATTER)

REPORTER: The little kids love her.

Black or white,
they accept Cathy Freeman

for who she is and what she's done.

BOY: Thank you.
GIRL: Thank you.

REPORTER: What did it mean
to Aboriginal kids,

to see Cathy named
as Young Australian of the Year?

I think it meant an awful lot.

I think this will make them
stand up and say,

"Look if she can do it, I can."

I was a kid who was quite embarrassed
to be a black kid,

an Indigenous kid.

I sort of grew up
with that self-image.

Like, I still remember,
I could never understand why,

whenever I smiled at someone,
they wouldn't smile back! (LAUGHS)

I used to get really upset.

I thought, "Why don't people
smile back at me?" (LAUGHS)

It just used to, quietly,
really devastate me.

I was about 10 or something
and I had won my race,

but I didn't get the trophy for it,

apparently because I was black.

We absolutely felt like we weren't
on equal footing with other people.

But... when I ran, it just changed.

It was like everything was different
in the world of running for me.

COMMENTATOR: She's off scratch.

She's got 42 metres to make up
on Debbie Tomsett.

And here she is.

She just loved the racing.

So, she'd go and run at club meet.

The State titles, she'd run.

She'd go the Stawell Gift, which is
our professional racing on grass.

A lot of people wouldn't even know
what that is.

(WHISTLE BLOWS, STARTER'S GUN FIRES)

COMMENTATOR: Cathy Freeman.

She's virtually got a quarter
of the race to make up.

Can the crowd get Cathy Freeman up
from there?

About 200 metres from home,

they're shaking their heads,
but here she comes.

Now the crowd realise
she IS a chance.

Cathy's passed the first of them,
she goes past Tomsett.

Lewis gives her a shove.

Cathy Freeman, now is
going to catch Shanie Coutts.

She grits hard! Cathy Freeman!

She does it!
Freeman by half a metre!

CATHY FREEMAN; I know that I not only
represent myself,

but I represent my people,

and I know my people follow me.

I have my people there
to support me,

financially, emotionally.

It's very important to me that
my people are with me all the way.

This next lady
is simply sensational.

The new Aussie golden girl of the
track they call Catherine the Great.

But you don't feel the pressure

of being, A, a woman, B, a young
woman, and, C, an Aboriginal woman?

That's not too much pressure?
No, I'm having fun.

ANNOUNCER:
Years of training behind her,

focused for this one moment.

(STARTER'S GUN FIRES)
They're away.

Freeman off to a good start
from lane 3.

REPORTER: The odds were on Nigerian
100 metres champion Mary Onyali,

but Freeman didn't disappoint,

powering from behind
to cement her hero status.

Through now, it's Onyali in front.
Can Cathy pick her up?

Onyali's pretty strong
with 50 metres to go,

Cathy's coming at her!
She's flying home, Freeman!

And she gets up for
gold for Australia!

(CHEERING)

REPORTER: The first woman
to win both the 200 and 400 metres

in the Commonwealth Games.

Then, in defiance of team chief
Arthur Tunstall,

she combined the Aboriginal
and Australian flags.

She should've carried
the Australian flag first up,

and not seen the Aboriginal flag
at all.

We've all come together,
under the Australian flag.

It's the Australian flag that flies
every time we win a gold medal.

I think it is improper

to associate the Aboriginal flag
with the Australian flag.

With all due respect I don't care.

I'm here to run
and that's all I'm gonna do.

REPORTER: So, no regrets Cathy?
No, no, regrets.

I wanted to shout,
"Look at me, look at my skin.

"I'm black, and I'm the best.

"There is no more shame."

REPORTER: Across Australia,
it seemed

there was overwhelming support
for the athlete.

She's proud to be an Aboriginal
and that's wonderful.

Yeah. I think that's great.

Well, why not? She's an Aborigine.

It's the first one to win
a gold medal.

I don't think she meant anything
against the Australian people

and the flag.

The Aboriginal community
needs to, uh, have heroes like that.

Here was a young Aboriginal woman,

not that different in age to me,

proudly being both an Aboriginal
woman and an Australian.

And it made me feel really positive
and good about myself

as well as about
changing that narrative

of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people

and how they are seen
in the Australian psyche.

Did you ever dream
it would cause such reaction?

No, no, no, never.

It's just natural for me just to have
picked up the Aboriginal flag

because it represents my people.

Like there's this mural in Melbourne

with traditional Aboriginal people
with chains around their necks,

you know, being treated like animals

and I draw strength from
those sorts of... paintings,

which is pretty much
what the flag represents.

You know, all the struggles,
I suppose, and hardships

that my people have had to deal with.

I've always been
very mindful of my ancestors.

There's two parts of Queensland where
my Indigenous ancestors are from,

maternal and paternal.

And then there's English, Chinese
and Syrian ancestors.

I identify as being Indigenous.

To be Indigenous is to feel truly
connected to the land we're on,

in theory and in essence,
like, in spirit.

Yeah, Indigenous is special,
it's unique,

because Indigenous obviously means
that you are of the land.

I think there's
a lot of white Australians

who have grown up not understanding

what had gone on with
the Aboriginal people.

MAN: We will always... will have our
doubters in Australia,

with, you know
the stuff that happened.

I believe she has certainly
changed the minds

of a lot of non-Indigenous people.

When I think about all the injustices

and innocent people
whose lives were changed forever,

it makes me really sad.

But it also makes me
really determined.

SCOTT GULLAN: No doubt
people heard her background

and what her family went through

and then it's like, "OK, so that
happened, the Stolen Generation.

"I didn't know enough about that.
Now I do."

CHILDREN: (SING)
♪ For we are young and free... ♪

SCOTT GULLAN:
Because of this amazing person

who'd gone through so much
to get to the top of the world.

(ENERGETIC MUSIC)

CATHY FREEMAN:
The great Marie-Jo Perec,

she was the sort of woman who struck
fear in the hearts of most athletes.

You know, people would see her
walk into a room

and people would just freak out.

They would just freeze with fear.

She's just a magnificent athlete.

She was so statuesque
and so striking.

Her muscle definition
was incredible.

Her running style, her legs,

just the way she competed
was extraordinary.

ANNOUNCER: Olympic champion,
Marie-Jose Perec.

SCOTT GULLAN: Perec was
the tall, intimidating...

..oozed champion, and she knew it.

And she tried to get in Cathy's head
many times.

And I think she did
for a little while.

Cathy thought, "I'm the bridesmaid."

I was always just so desperate
to just win against her.

PETER FORTUNE: The '95 World Champs
was the one where she...

..went out too hard,
trying to beat Perec.

COMMENTATOR: Perec's got the lead,
Freeman second, holding onto second.

Miles is coming home well,

Cathy is fading, may miss a medal.

Perec's going to win brilliantly.

PETER FORTUNE:
She ran the wrong race

and she blew up and got very tired.

COMMENTATOR: fourth Freeman,
and the time...

PETER FORTUNE: She resolved
that lapse would not happen again.

It was always her in the front of
my mind and at the front of my heart

that made me do the things I did,

training the way I did,
aspiring the way I did...

(LAUGHING) ..and dreaming
the way I did.

And Marie-Jo Perec, she ran 48.86.

So, I decided,
"Well, if I'm going to be any good,

"you have to try and... you have to
look towards beating the best."

So, I wrote down, um, on a piece
of paper, in big large letters,

"48.6."

(CHEERING)

ANNOUNCER: In lane 4,
representing Australia,

the Commonwealth Games
200 and 400 metres champion,

Cathy Freeman.

(CHEERING)

The 1992 Olympic gold medallist,

Marie-Jose Perec.

(CHEERING)

(STARTER'S GUN FIRES)

BRUCE McAVANEY: Cathy OK, Perec up
very quickly, as you'd expect.

Cathy's running well.

Perec tries to get to her.

Perec goes up alongside of her.

Freeman grits her teeth.

Perec leads into the straight.
Can Freeman lift?

She is lifting.
She goes up to Perec.

Perec's a half a stride in front.

Freeman's coming at her!

Perec now holds her.

It's been a mighty race... (ECHOES)

Perec was challenged that night

in a way that she hadn't
been challenged for a while

and Cathy brought
the best out in her,

and she brought
the best out in Cathy.

It was the fastest time either
of them ever ran in their career.

It was a masterpiece,
to be truthful.

Perec wins and Freeman gets second.

REPORTER: Freeman's run
nearly one second faster

than her personal best,

her effort forcing
French runner Marie-Jose Perec

to an Olympic record

and the first to win back-to-back
gold in the event's history.

RAY MARTIN: Now to Atlanta
and Cathy Freeman,

her best run ever,
by more than a second.

Good enough to beat any woman
in the world, except for one.

Now you told us,
in February last year,

that you'd have to run 48.6
to win the gold.

You did that
but it wasn't quite enough.

Yeah, just for a split moment,
I thought to myself,

"I can win this."

And... and unfortunately, I just...

..a big bear jumped on my back,

but I'm just so happy because
I pushed her to her very best.

Was she beatable, Cathy?

I think she is. I mean, I just...

I don't know, I just think...

I just need a little bit more time
and... it'll happen.

There was always a part of me,
that ran towards her,

'cause I knew that she was
the only person

who could ever unlock
my own potential.

The place in which I started from,

people just weren't big dreamers.

People just didn't have
even a vision of a possibility

of what they could become.

She gave me permission
to get really bold with my goals.

Atlanta silver medallist
Cathy Freeman is still celebrating

after breaking her drought

against world and Olympic
400-metre champion Marie-Jo Perec

at a track-and-field
Grand Prix meet in Belgium.

The Australian turned
the tables on her arch-rival,

after once again
breaking 50 seconds.

PETER FORTUNE: That was significant.

It showed that Perec's beatable,

gave Catherine a lot of confidence
that she could match it with Perec.

BRUCE McAVANEY: Cathy went through
this four-year period

where she was basically unbeaten.

It's quite remarkable.

SCOTT GULLAN: She won
the world title from lane 1,

and that just never happens.

COMMENTATOR: She's just in front,
the Aussie.

I think she's got them!

Yes, she's done it!

That was a massive moment.

COMMENTATOR: Cathy Freeman,
the first Australian woman

ever to win a gold medal
at the world championships.

I have enormous pleasure
in announcing

that the Australian of the Year
is Cathy Freeman.

PETER FORTUNE: I think
she was probably

the most recognisable figure
in Australia at the time.

More people knew her than would have
known the Prime Minister.

I came out of an Australia

that really had negative views
about Aboriginal people

and Cathy smashed

every single one of
those negative stereotypes.

U.S. REPORTER:
Now you're the world champion,

it's a different set of pressure
you had in the past.

What do you feel like,
going into this season,

and, of course, ending up in Sydney?

Oh, you know I'm optimistic

and, I'm looking forward to
the future with a lot of... zest.

It was just being teed up perfectly

for Cathy to go

to Sydney in 2000,

and I've never known anything
like it, in terms of the build-up

and the expectation for one race,

starting literally two years before.

We've come down here
to see Cathy Freeman today

because she gives us hope.

Somebody's up there, like one of us.

COMMENTATOR: She's created history,

the first woman ever to win
back-to-back world championships

over 400 metres.

It's so difficult I think to have
that long, long winning run,

but not have the one thing that
you want more than anything else.

She still had the challenge
of signing the deal, so to speak,

'cause what people would have
said then was, "There you go -

"she could win everything
for four years

"but she couldn't win the one
that mattered most."

(SPEAKS FRENCH)

MAN: I was working for
the British Ministry of Defence,

designing future clothing systems
for the army.

I was offered this job at Nike
to join this advanced clothing team.

The brief for my first project

was to help someone run faster.

We came up with the idea

that we would put different textures
on different parts of the body.

Texture equals speed

in aerodynamics.

Air is like a liquid and, so, if we
can reduce the drag of your body

as you're moving through
this liquid,

then, potentially, it could maximise
an athlete's velocity.

MAN: One of the critical elements
of any Swift Suit

is to try to get the seams
orientated either with the airflow,

or completely out of the airflow.

EDDY HARBER: We had really just
gone after performance.

It wasn't a fashion-design project.

It looked so... nuts.

And I can remember, we sort of
came away kind of going,

"Who the hell's gonna wear that?"

You know? (LAUGHS)

EDDY HARBER:
We made a full white suit,

which was kind of a stealth secret
suit that we sent down to Melbourne.

Like, the zip,

the actual... thing,

it's sitting right on my...

MAN: Your windpipe?
Yeah.

Yep.

EDDY HARBER: Really, with Cathy,
it was about getting it

so that she was comfortable
in the suit.

The main difference between Cathy
and other runners, that we noticed,

was she has very long legs
in proportion to her torso.

It took us a good six months
to get the fit totally done.

The one thing I do have to try
and get used to is having...

..the wind blow past my ears.

I can hear it. I can hear...

MAN: Good or bad?

Uh...

Well, you feel like you're
slicing through the air, it's good.

Yep.

EDDY HARBER: When she said, "I feel
like I'm slicing through the air,"

that was, like, bingo!

That's exactly
what we needed it to feel like.

REPORTER: Cathy Freeman, who has
helped in suit development testing,

is yet to decide whether
she'll wear one at the Olympics,

or stick with the conventional look.

I knew that the Sydney Olympic Games

were going to demand of me

a temperament that I'd probably

never really drawn on before.

Because the pressure and the meaning

was just so incredible.

Few sports stars
have captivated Australia

the way sprinter Cathy Freeman has.

Cathy Freeman...
Cathy Freeman...

Cathy Freeman...
Cathy Freeman...

Cathy Freeman...
Cathy Freeman...

Cathy Freeman...
Cathy Freeman...

Cathy Freeman...
Cathy Freeman... (ECHOES)

It's like looking through a window,

and what's on the other side
of that glass,

you can see the beast.
(HOWLING)

And that's the media
and that's the noise

and they're the voices

and it's all the excitement
and the pressure from others,

the density of it all.

I consider them beasts because
they can either eat you alive

or if you give it respect
and acknowledge it,

then you can actually
get on quite well with it.

For me to have sustained
my own performance and focus,

I had to kind of, in a sense,
have peace with that beast.

You know,
when you can't change things,

it's best to just be at peace
with it, I believe,

and so that you can move through it
and just experience real freedom.

CROWD: (SHOUT)
Five, four, three, two, one...

COMMENTATOR: So, the Olympics
has really arrived here.

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the Sydney 2000 Games

of the 27th Olympiad.

(THEME FROM
'THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER' PLAYS)

So, I get to the Olympic
opening ceremony.

I sat next to Cathy's mum
and then we're thinking,

"Oh, I wonder
who's gonna light the torch."

And then, all of a sudden,
Cathy's mum looked down and said,

"Is that Catherine?"

(CHOIR SINGS)

ANNOUNCER: Cathy Freeman.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

RICHARD MORECROFT:
For the first time,

Australia has recognised
the legal existence of Aborigines

prior to white settlement.

We have a particular place
in this country.

We've been here
since time immemorial.

PAUL KEATING:
We committed the murders.

We took the children
from their mothers.

NEWSREADER: Federal Cabinet
decided last month

to officially recognise

the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander flags.

WOMAN: We have a great
people's movement out there

who want to see reconciliation.

REPORTER: 100,000 hands,
100,000 signatures of support.

REPORTER: Many thousands of people
have embraced National Sorry Day.

That's the support that we have
on the ground for reconciliation.

That's the people sending a message.

WOMAN: By 2001, we have to
achieve something on paper

to say that we are the Indigenous
people of Australia.

(CHEERING)

When Cathy lit the flame,

she was standing up there
on behalf of all of us.

She was the perfect person.

I can't imagine any First Nation's
person around the world

didn't feel pride at that moment.

She's a symbol of
what we can be as a nation.

All I was scared of
was her getting burnt.

(LAUGHS)

That's silly I know that's silly.

Then I realised
what a big deal that was,

you know, for her to be chosen
to actually light the flame.

I was so proud of her,
that they chose her.

CATHY FREEMAN: I'm really proud to be
a Kuku Yalanji woman -

to have a place in the history
of this country.

You know, surely,
in a sporting context

but in a social justice context,

you know,
matters that are so important

for the future of this country.

That's the most inspiring part
for me.

(CHEERING)

The Olympic stars
continue to arrive.

Today, the woman who could stand
in the way of Cathy Freeman,

Marie-Jose Perec.

Guys... Yeah, keep walking.

Yeah, we were there,
cameras were there, in her face.

It would've felt like a war zone.

You're coming into enemy territory.

She was enemy number one.

REPORTER: You're running...
What's your problem?

SCOTT GULLAN: For us, for the media,
it was all about,

"What's Cathy doing?

Anything she did was news.

Had breakfast - where?

We needed to know where she was
every minute of the day.

I have to admit the attention...
is always really overwhelming.

I'm just really, really determined
to have a good time.

I don't want this to be a stress...
I don't want this to be stressful.

(CHUCKLES) And, uh...

(LAUGHTER)
Meanwhile, yeah.

Cathy Freeman's arch-rival,
Marie-Jo Perec,

has again avoided questions.

Refusing a request today
by French team officials

to attend a news conference.

Yeah, I hope that you guys
have been treating her nicely

and, um, with... with all her...
the respect that she's due.

SCOTT GULLAN: No, we didn't do
anything more than normal.

It was just more...
that was the sentiment.

We did not want her to win.

(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(CLATTERING)

The biggest shock
of the games so far.

French woman, Marie-Jose Perec...

..has fled the Olympics
under dramatic circumstances.

For I can confirm that she has
departed Sydney,

that she is, right now,
not in Sydney.

REPORTER: I spotted them
on the off-chance.

I started filming them
on a little Handycam.

After I got my shot
and thought that was enough,

her fiance walked back
and threatened me

and said, "Stop filming."

Do you want me to film you...?

I'm sorry.
MAN: Listen to me!

Do you understand?!
Yeah.

You come near me again and I will
hurt you. Do you understand?

He king-hit me
in the back of the head

as I headed for, um,
the safety of a chocolate shop.

NEWSREADER: The International
Olympic Committee

was caught by surprise.

I don't know where she is.

She's not in my office, though.
(LAUGHTER)

NEWSREADER: Perec claims a man
found his way to her apartment

and verbally abused her.

But the account is disputed
by the management of the apartments.

And what do you think
about the motivation for this

because, as you said,
she hasn't run for so long.

I... I think she realised
she couldn't beat Cathy Freeman.

I don't see any other
explanation, you know?

Maybe she's a little bit parano...
paranoid, you say?

She read the signs. She knew, "I'm
at my most vulnerable right now.

"She is at her absolute peak.

"Do you want to go out that way,

"losing to your heir apparent?

"Nah. Keep my legend
and my mystique and disappear."

My heart dropped.
My heart drops still, now.

I knew that I was up for it.

She knew it and I knew it,

but we'll never know... (LAUGHS)
..because it didn't happen.

That race will never happen.

(BROADCAST THEME MUSIC PLAYS)

BROADCASTER: Good morning,
it's Monday September the 25th...

BROADCASTER 2:
Monday, September the 25th.

And guess who makes
most front pages? Our Cathy.

BROADCASTER 3:
A determined Cathy Freeman.

BROADCASTER 4:
Tonight's the night Freeman runs...

BROADCASTER 5: for gold tonight
in the Olympic...

BROADCASTER 6: final of
the 400 metres.

That morning, you know I thought,
"Wow, this is a different day."

I had a dry mouth, I felt nervous.

It's amazing how one person
can stop a nation.

And that's exactly
what Cathy Freeman will do tonight

here at Olympic Stadium.

Tonight's a big night for her,
big night for track and field

and, I guess, a big night
for the media.

REPORTER:
Before 23 television cameras

and several hundred journalists.
REPORTER 2: Cathy 400 metres.

A television audience
numbering in the billions...

(ECHOES) ..the billions...
the billions...

I felt a responsibility that
we were winding up the pressure.

You just look at that small frame.

That's a lot of weight
to be carrying.

I couldn't remember any other moment
in sporting history,

and I cannot think of
any other athlete

that has been placed
under so much pressure.

There was lots of things
that were happening

in the lead-up to the 2000 Games.

You had nearly
a quarter of a million Australians

who walked across the Sydney Harbour
Bridge in support of reconciliation

and, at the time, the Government's
refusal to say sorry

to the Stolen Generations.

And I felt like that all came to
a head through that one race.

Run for yourself Cathy.
You've, uh...

You don't have to carry
anyone's burden.

I felt exceptionally light.

I felt exceptionally loose.

I felt good.

It's just another day
at the office, remember?

You can see the stadium lights,

you can hear everybody.

And the sound of 120,000 people,

it sounds like a beast.

(CROWD ROARS NEARBY)
The vibrations are just incredible.

And you can sense
this is an Olympic finals night.

You can absolutely
just even taste it in the air.

REPORTER: Fans poured into
the Olympic precinct

from early this afternoon.

WOMAN: I remember getting on
the train with my Aboriginal flag.

WOMAN 2: I was a volunteer.

WOMAN 3: I was five years old.

MAN: And we listened to it
on the car radio.

MAN 2: I was in Hughenden.

MAN 3: I was high up,
the home straight.

WOMAN 4: We were sitting at
the 100-metre start.

And it just dawned on me then,
watching all those people

and what they expected her to do.

So, what are the odds, now,
of Australia's favourite runner

achieving her dream?

But for the other athletes,
it was very noticeable

that it was Cathy's to lose.

This is a real opportunity here.

You couldn't be in sport and...

..not understand the gravity
of missing your moment.

And the event you're about to see,

they're calling
"The Race of Our Lives".

Cathy Freeman in the 400,

with more than 110,000 in the stands

and just about every television set
in Australia tuned in.

When we come back, the women's
400-metre final from Sydney.

(FANFARE PLAYS AND FADES)

I'm now completely on my own.

It's a moment of...
complete vulnerability.

(LAUGHS)

This is what I've been preparing for
my whole life.

There's electricity
at the very ends of my fingertips.

And there's electricity
all up to the top of my head.

It runs down my neck, down my back,

it's all the way down
to the very tips of my toes.

The, uh, official is quiet.

We're now being led to the stadium,
under the road,

and, uh, we're walking in silence.

This is my step
towards the future now.

I still feel a very overwhelming
sense of tranquillity.

And I'm feeling calm,

I'm feeling OK.

You can hear the spectacle.
(MUFFLED CROWD NOISES)

You can hear the voice booming
over the loudspeakers and...

(MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY
ON LOUDSPEAKERS)

..and we're all still being held
together in this bubble of silence.

And the clock is ticking down.

(TICKING ECHOES)

I have a distinct moment
where I'm about to turn the corner,

to go out onto the track.

And I remember somebody saying...

MAN: (SHOUTS) You can do it, Cathy!

As soon as I hear this person,
everything becomes like a blur.

And people seem to fade away.

And I know that people
are going to see me.

(CROWD ROARS)

(SILENCE)

It becomes otherworldly.

You can almost hear
your own heartbeat,

it's the strangest feeling.

(CROWD ROARS)

BRUCE McAVANEY: The women are out
for the 400 metres final.

RAELENE BOYLE: The whole nation
has been waiting for this.

I don't hear anyone.

I just sense that...
I'm all alone, actually.

We had a race plan worked out,

which I'd written on
a little bit of paper.

She said, "Now, just... let me
just sit here. I just want to...

"I want you to go through
that race plan again.

CATHY FREEMAN: "Fast start
for 50 metres, no longer."

Otherwise you bring in
other energy systems

which you don't want to bring in
quite then.

"Move from very fast to fast relaxed,
to the 200-metre mark."

So, still running quickly,
but not hardly.

"Pick up on bend a little
to make sure of my position."

The bend is slower
than the straight,

so you've got to pick it up or
the pace will just slowly drop off.

"And then go hard
from about 120 to go,

"and hold form to finish line."

It's pretty simple really.

It was aimed at
winning the gold medal.

It wasn't aimed at running
the fastest time.

Could be a difference.

I make sure
I'm back at the start block.

And, of course, I show to the world
the famous Nike Swift Suit.

She wore the... the suit.

It just upped the stakes massively.

PETER FORTUNE:
It was a very gutsy move,

because if you don't win the race,

you know, you come out with
this radical outfit

and people'll be bagging it forever.

This is what a rock star
must feel like,

and the rock star that night
was Cathy.

Our race was right after her race

and you're supposed to stay
in the call room under the stadium

until they call you out.

We just walked out of the call room
to go watch that race,

all eight of us,
because it was just that special.

And you thought, "Wow."

She was making a statement.

She was getting ready
to do it in style.

It was... all or nothing.

"Here I am."

(CHEERING)
WOMAN: Come on, Cathy!

I instinctively take
some deep breaths in and out,

looking up to the sky.

It's so I don't feel suffocated
by... this moment.

And I'll breathe to the heavens
as if to say,

"Help me!" (LAUGHS)

STADIUM ANNOUNCER:
..the women's 400-metre final.

In lane 1, Olga Kotlyarova.

(APPLAUSE)

In lane 2, Donna Fraser.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

In lane 3, Katharine Merry.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

In lane 4, Lorraine Graham.

(APPLAUSE)

In lane 5, Ana Guevara.

(APPLAUSE)

In lane 7, Heide Seyerling.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

In lane 8, Falilat Ogunkoya.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

In lane 6, Cathy Freeman.

(CROWD ROARS)

(MUFFLED ROARING ECHOES)

There is people watching
in the stadium.

But all I can see is my lane.

(CHEERING GROWS LOUDER)

STADIUM ANNOUNCER: That brings us
to the women's 400-metre final.

Just as the race was
about to begin, you know,

started hushing, hush-hush,
literally just so quiet.

You could almost hear a pin drop.

However many hundred-thousand people
holding their breath.

PAUL KENNEDY: I was just
preparing myself

for the fact that she wouldn't win.

PETER FORTUNE:
"Probably won't happen."

You know, "Something'll happen.
Australians don't win gold medals."

MARIANTHE SITZOUKIS:
What if she did lose?

What could I possibly say to her?

There was still that little nagging
feeling in the back of my mind

that was like,
"If I'm not really careful here,

"I could become over-emotional

"and I'll blast it out too hard
and lose it."

U.S. COMMENTATOR: Cathy has waited
for this moment since '96.

Australia has waited since '64.

Their Aboriginal people
have waited... forever.

MAN: On your marks...

I can feel the texture of the
Tartan track under my fingernails,

I can feel the pressure
on my fingers.

And I go down onto my blocks.

I'm feeling good, I'm feeling quiet,
I'm feeling silent,

I'm feeling strong.

Quiet.

MAN: Set.

(STARTER'S GUN FIRES)

(CHANTING IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

BRUCE McAVANEY: Freeman out well.
A mighty roar.

So, I'm out of the blocks,
over the first 30 metres

and it's a case of doing
exactly what I know I need to do.

I'm feeling sharp.

I'm not having a lot of contact
on the ground,

my body is feeling amazing.

We move towards the 200-metre mark.

I'm cruising, I'm feeling light,
I'm feeling fantastic.

PETER FORTUNE: And she was literally
jogging down the back straight.

She was so effortless.

I can feel the sun
shine out of my chest.

(INDIGENOUS CHANTING CONTINUES)

The movement, the sprinting,

and just that sense of flight.

Nothing else matters
in those moments.

You know, they call it time

but it just feels like a whole series
of just being in the moment.

It's like sheer bliss.

With 150 metres to go,

we're all looking like
we're all placing the same.

It's more of a sensory exchange.

The way people make you feel
is the first cue.

At that point in the race, if someone
believes that they can win,

someone's being assertive,

it's all about what you see,

how they're running,
how they're competing.

It's as clear as daylight.

MARIANTHE SITZOUKIS:
And just as she's turned that corner

and we can see that she's not
winning, she's coming third...

BRUCE McAVANEY: This is where
Cathy exploded in Atlanta.

Graham's in front of her.
Freeman's got work to do here.

..I'm just thinking, "Oh, my God."

SCOTT GULLAN: Oh, hang on.
Is there something wrong?

MAN: My heart just sank.
I just went, "Oh, no.

PAUL KENNEDY: "Oh, no, she's behind.

"Someone's going to run a race
that's out of this world."

CECELIA BARBER: I could remember
taking a big, deep breath.

SCOTT GULLAN:
I had two scripts ready to go

'cause we were on deadline.

One - Cathy wins, one - Cathy loses.

Heartbreaking writing it.

"Oh, my God she's lost.

"Australian hearts are breaking,"
you know? "Cathy Freeman unfor..."

MARIANTHE SITZOUKIS:
It was a split second of dread,

and it just was like a car crash.

And I think that's when
everyone where we were

was just willing...
like, just, like, "Come on!"

MAN: Come on! Get going!

SCOTT GULLAN: Go, go, go, please,
please do it, please do it.

(CHEERING)
(INDIGENOUS CHANT CONTINUES)

CATHY FREEMAN: 120 metres to go.

Nobody's making a move.

I'm waiting. I'm waiting
for that challenge.

Lorraine looks like
she's actually in the lead,

I can feel that she doesn't think
that she can win this race,

not this one, not tonight.

This is my moment, 80 metres to go.

(CHANTING STOPS)

(HIGH PITCHED WHISTLING)

I feel like I'm being protected.

(WOMEN CHANT IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE)

My ancestors were the first people
to walk on this land.

It's a really powerful force.

Those other girls were always
going to have to come up against,

you know, my ancestors.

(WOMEN CONTINUE CHANTING)

(HIGH-PITCHED WHISTLING)

For the first time, I feel
the stadium, I feel the people,

I feel their energy,
I feel like I'm being carried.

(CROWD ROARS)

And I know exactly
what I need to do.

I know how to do this,
I can do this in my sleep.

I can win this, I will win this.

Who's going to stop me?

I go, I go and I go.

BRUCE McAVANEY: nearly in sight!
Cathy lifting!

Goes up to Graham, takes the lead!

I actually feel like
someone has put me on a cloud

and I can't even touch the ground.

I don't even feel my feet
touch the ground.

This is a feeling
I've never experienced before.

MARIANTHE SITZOUKIS:
It felt supernatural.

It was just like this, "Whoosh!"

PAUL KENNEDY: It was almost like
watching someone fly.

She was flying.

PETER FORTUNE: It was very possibly

the fastest last 100
in a women's four ever.

COMMENTATOR:
Here they come to the line!

Cathy Freeman, by a big margin,
for Australia!

(CROWD ROARS)

(CROWD NOISE STOPS)

And the moment I'm airborne
across the line,

I think to myself,
for the first time,

so this is what it feels like
to be an Olympic champion.

(CROWD ROARS)

BRUCE McAVANEY:
What a legend. What a champion.

(CROWD ROARS)

All of a sudden, I'm in a stadium
filled with 119,000 people.

I can't even hear a thing,

except just this incredible, dense,
thick, impenetrable energy and noise

that is almost too much to bear.

(CROWD NOISE STOPS)

It's like that window shattered.

That beast from outside

came crashing through,
into my sacred space.

The beast is a complex mechanism.
(LAUGHS)

So, there's a lot of colours
going on,

inside and outside.

We all carry some sort of anger
or fury or sadness and pain.

PAUL KENNEDY:
Everyone across Australia

was in their own state of ecstasy.

There was a lot of cheering
going on.

And only after a little while,

once we've calmed down
and stopped hugging each other,

did we look at Cathy again.

It's only looking back
that you think,

"Oh, what was she thinking?

"What was happening to her
at that stage?"

I just was completely... floored
or something.

Everybody was just so...
at one together.

It's like we were the only people
who existed in the world.

So, I sit down... (LAUGHS)
..take my shoes off,

so I could feel that bit
of stability and groundedness.

COMMENTATOR: (SHOUTS) Take a look at
Cathy Freeman's stride pattern!

She's striding away from the other
women like they're standing still!

An incredible run!

SCOTT GULLAN: She knew it was
the pinnacle of her career,

and I think, as part of that,
she figured,

"This is the biggest race
of my life.

"I'll run
the fastest time of my life.

"I'll break 49 again, I'll go 48,
potentially personal best."

I looked straight across
to the clock

and I was disappointed
with the time.

PETER FORTUNE: The first thing
she said to me was, "Oh, Fort,

"the time, a bit slow?

The gold medal was almost...

..right at that moment,
it was almost a secondary thing.

It's just beginning,
it's just beginning,

I've got a long way to go.

So, I just intend to go on further
and further and further,

until I reach my potential.

Until I reach my limit.

I should have run under 49
and I didn't.

And I knew that I had
a lot more in me.

I'm an Olympic champion

but there's this feeling of
not feeling completely satisfied.

It's like an itch
that's always there.

STADIUM ANNOUNCER: Cathy Freeman
of Australia...

BRUCE McAVANEY:
Events that are measured in time,

at such an exact time,

there's all the other things
that go with it.

It's the burden of favouritism.

It's the burden of
lighting the cauldron.

It's the burden of a nation
willing and wanting.

It's the burden of four years
of basically being unbeaten.

I think it's her
greatest performance.

(CHEERING)

MAN: She won, it was brilliant.

WOMAN: Just so joyous for everybody.

MARIANTHE SITZOUKIS: What was sown
on the inside of every child

is priceless.

I wanted to be her because
I wanted to succeed like her.

I want to be like her.

I want to be like her on the track.
I want to be like her off the track.

BRUCE McAVANEY: It's what great art
and great sport does.

It inspires, it raises your sights,

it gives you something to look up
to, and that's what Cathy did.

And she's... 20 years on,

it's just as powerful as it was.

CECELIA BARBER:
Everything changed that day.

SCOTT GULLAN: She brought
the place together.

MARIANTHE SITZOUKIS: I feel like
I won the race.

I felt like I ran the race.
MAN: Everybody was a winner.

MAN 2: Black and white Australia
stood as one.

EDDY HARBER: It was just bedlam
in that place.

MARLEE SILVA: I still feel
the power of it.

PAUL KENNEDY: Was it for nothing?
Did we not learn anything?

KATHARINE MERRY: It was just
absolutely magical.

MICHAEL SIMONS:
Nelson Mandela coming out jail.

EDDY HARBER:
Jessie Owen running in Berlin.

MICHAEL SIMON: Cathy Freeman
winning the 400 metres.

PAUL KENNEDY: That was a gift.

She gave us all a gift.

CATHY FREEMAN: It just feels...
(EXHALES)

..feels like a dream.