For Freeman, a nation unites in its praise

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By GARY SHELTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 26, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia -- Two flags, rippling in the wind of a perfect Australian night.

[Times photo: AP photo] Cathy Freeman of Australia holds up the gold medal she won Monday in the 400-meter race at the Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Two flags, side by side, neither higher than the other.

Two flags, one Australian, one Aboriginal. One of the flags has a small Union Jack in the corner and scattered white stars on a field of blue. The other is red, symbolizing the earth;yellow, symbolizing the sun; and black, symbolizing the people.

Two flags, both waving for one runner.

Cathy Freeman -- Aboriginal, Australian -- ran for them both. She ran for the people of her ancestors, for the people of her government, for anyone else who wanted to watch her go. She ran, arms akimbo, flailing like a swimmer going upstream until she crossed the finish line ahead of the field. She ran faster than the critics, faster than the politics, faster than the symbolism until all the outside factors melted into the sound of one nation cheering.

When you get down to it, wasn't that the grandest sight of all?

Surely, you heard the noise early Monday. A roar that came from somewhere beneath the rest of the world. From the time the 400-meter race began to the time Freeman won the gold medal, Australia trembled. It was a one-note cheer, as loud as you can imagine. Certainly, everyone in the country was cheering. Weren't they?

For months there were questions. Quite by accident, Freeman had run herself into a debate from which she could not extract herself. The Aboriginal elders had urged her to protest the Games by refusing to participate. Freeman not only declined, she lit the torch in the Opening Ceremonies, a move some of her people decried as political manipulation by the government. Freeman was dismissed by many as a sellout, a pawn, and it was easy to question how many would cheer for her as she ran.

Turns out, only everybody.

This was pure celebration. This was a nation in ecstasy over the triumph. This was the wacky, lovable Aussies, dancing and singing and chanting.

You have to understand how much Australians love their sport. You walk though the streets of Sydney and large televisions are scattered throughout the town, with cheering fans gathered around them cheering anything Australian. Those face tattoos with the little flags? All the Australian ones have been sold. Australians have filled the stadiums -- even for archery, for goodness' sake -- and they have cheered the competitors. But like every other nation, they love their own. And Freeman is their own.

"I felt everyone's emotions in the stadium," Freeman said. "Everyone was saying: "Cathy, please, please, please.' "

Ah, but this race seemed destined to be Freeman's. After all, she is 41-1 in 400 finals since the Atlanta Olympics. Besides, the woman who beat her in 1996, Marie-Jose Perec, pulled a bit of a walkabout last week. One day Perec was in her hotel room, and the next day she was Garbo, wanting to be alone. She fled the country, talking of a mysterious stranger who threatened her, a report the Australian police have treated as fiction.

It didn't matter. Perec couldn't have stopped this. Freeman cruised for the first 200 meters, then started to make her move, then shrugged off the field like an oversized raincoat down the stretch.

When she finished, however, there was no joy in Freeman's face. She looked ahead, blankly, then sat on the track, seemingly dazed. She sat there as Great Britain's Donna Fraser, who finished fourth, congratulated her.

"I felt relief," she said. "It was such a relief. I could feel everyone around me, all over me, everyone's emotions and happiness and joy. It poured through every pore in my body. I just wanted to sit down until I could feel comfortable again."

Finally, she rose. She stripped off her shoes, the red, yellow and black ones that symbolize her heritage. She began to run, and it hit you that maybe, just maybe, this was a race bigger than race.

"I'm sure what happened tonight will make a difference in people's attitudes," she said, "whether it's the person in the street or the person in the political stage. All I know is that I've made a lot of people happy, from all kinds of backgrounds, who call Australia home. And I'm happy."

In some ways, it seems like six months since Freeman lit the torch. There was the fallout over that. There was the politics of Tent City. There was the pullout of Perec. Even Monday, there was the continuing discussion of drugs in the wake of reports of C.J. Hunter's positive test.

Somehow, Freeman managed to channel through it all. She managed to leave the debates and the headlines outside her lane. And for 49.11 seconds, she was able to make everyone else forget about everything else but watching her run and listening to a nation maintain its volume.

Perhaps there is something we can learn here, from the way Freeman ran her race, from the way she waved to the crowd celebrating. As she waved, you could not help but notice what was around her neck. Two flags, twisted and knotted, wrapped around each other until the colors bled into each other and it appeared to be one piece of cloth. A flag, and a runner, for everyone.

Fast facts: track and field

With nine finals, Monday was the busiest day of track and field. The highlights:

CATHY FREEMAN: The Olympic cauldron lighter carried a half Australian, half Aboriginal flag to celebrate her 400-meter victory. She won in 49.11 seconds. "I'm pleased I've weathered the pressure and have the gold," she said. "I was just relieved. I could feel the crowd, everybody's emotion, their happiness and joy. I had to sit down, get comfortable and feel normal."

MICHAEL JOHNSON: Overshadowed by Freeman's victory, the American made Olympic history by becoming the first man to successfully defend a 400r title, running a 43.84. "I knew coming in this would not be the same type of situation (as Atlanta)," he said. "That's once in a lifetime, once in a career." Johnson has won four Olympic and nine world championship medals -- all gold. Alvin Harrison won the silver medal to give the United States a 1-2 finish.

STACY DRAGILA: The American won the inaugural women's pole vault by clearing 15 feet, 1 inch. "I am living proof that an athlete who wasn't awesome in a sport can work hard and become an Olympic gold medalist," said Dragila, 29. The event came down to a vault-off between Dragila and Russian-born Australian Tatiana Grigorieva. Dragila won because she cleared the winning height on her first attempt.

GAIL DEVERS: The three-time gold medalist still seeking her first in hurdles advanced to the semifinals with U.S. teammates Melissa Morrison and Sharon Couch.

HAILE GEBRSELASSIE: The Ethiopian lunged past Kenyan Paul Tergat in a finish that bore a much greater resemblance to the split-second ending of a 100-meter race than the end of a 10,000 meters. Gebrselassie, who also won in 1996, said, "I never competed in a race with a finish like this, except maybe in a distance like 1,500." It was the closest 10,000-meter race in Olympic history with Gebrselassie winning in 27:18.20. Tergat finished 27:18.29.

GABRIELA SZABO: The 1996 silver medalist won the 5,000 in 14:40.79, smashing the Olympic record by more than 19 seconds.

ALSO NOTABLE: In the first round of the men's 1,500 meters, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, who holds the world record and has not been beaten in it since 1997, won his heat easily. ... Maria Mutola gave Mozambique its first gold medal by winning the women's 800. ... Britain's Jonathan Edwards won the triple jump, Anier Garcia of Cuba won the 110-meter hurdles and Lithuania's Virgilijus Alekna won the discus.

- Compiled from Times wires

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