Uniting Australia

Sometimes, athletes face much more than the immense pressure of competing in the Olympics. Obviously, that’s an enormous amount of pressure on its own! Though, Cathy Freeman faced so much more when she ran in the Sydney Games. Back in 2000, she was one of 11 Aboriginals out of the 628 member team. Thus, her performance could potentionally boost the country of Australia’s image as a progressive and accepting one. She was chosen to light the flame but more importantly, she successfully won the 400 meter final in 49.11 seconds. This monumental victory made her the country’s 100th Olympic champion.