One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags: Cathy Freeman and Australia s

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1 One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags: Cathy Freeman and Australia s Search for Aboriginal Reconciliation Leanne White is a lecturer in marketing and a research associate in the Centre for Tourism and Services Research at Victoria University. Her research interests include advertising, national identity, Australian popular culture, sports marketing and the Olympic movement. Introduction This paper will examine the career of athletics champion Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (better known as Cathy) and how it has affected perceptions of Australia. In lighting the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and winning her historic 400 metre race before a record Olympic crowd of 112,524, Freeman became one of Australia s most admired and respected athletes. Her celebrated win at the Sydney Games was Australia s 100th gold medal at an Olympic event and the first individual gold medal for an indigenous Australian. This article examines a number of mediated signs and symbols surrounding Cathy Freeman between 1994 and 2000, and how these images were played out in wider discussions about the future of the Australian nation-state. While the paper focuses on some of Freeman s high profile events between 1994 and 2000, some developments since 2000 will be briefly discussed where relevant. Between 1994 and 2000, Cathy Freeman became an iconic sporting and cultural ambassador for her country, and has helped influence the way Australians and the rest of the world think about this country and its people. Despite Australia s cultural and sporting achievements, it would be the issue of how Australia treated its Indigenous population which would be of most interest to the attentive world media by the time the Sydney Games came around. This paper argues that Cathy Freeman came to personify the hopes and dreams for reconciliation between black and white Australia, particularly for an Sporting Traditions, vol. 25, no. 2 (November 2008), pp Published by the Australian Society for Sports History.

2 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 anxious media that was keen to simplify the issue. Freeman played a central role in the promotion of the case for Aboriginal reconciliation in Australia prior to and during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In many ways, she has taken on almost iconic status as a key representative of Australia. Freeman was unquestionably 1 and indisputably 2 the athlete of the Sydney Games. When Cathy Freeman proudly ran with the Aboriginal flag in her 1994 victory lap (followed by both the Aboriginal and Australian flags in subsequent victories), she became a key sporting and cultural ambassador, particularly for Australia s Indigenous community. Freeman s journey can be viewed as a microcosm for Australian nationalism and, more specifically, for the cause of Aboriginal reconciliation in Australia. While Cathy Freeman has clearly played a role in how her image has been manufactured, who and what she has come to represent has also been manipulated by a number of interest groups. Freeman has also been directly involved in aligning her image with that of the nation she represents. Her carefully pitched media representations have shaped perceptions and images of Australian nationalism both in Australia and on the world stage. In a number of ways and over a number of years, Freeman has helped mould her image for a wide variety of media outlets. Cathy Freeman the athlete and the person represents Australia s possible future. She represents the reconciled nation Australia is yet to become. She has emerged as the new face of Australia itself. 3 Our Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman was born in Since her retirement from sport in 2003, Freeman prefers to be called Catherine rather than Cathy. She explains, Catherine has always been my name the name my friends and family call me. It was just that the public called me Cathy, probably because it was easier. 4 Melaleuca Park in Queensland, where Freeman trained when young, is now known as the Cathy Freeman Athletic Park. The first biography of Freeman was titled Cathy Freeman: A Journey Just Begun. 5 Subsequent editions of the book were published in 1999 and again in late 2000, after the Sydney Games. An autobiography, Cathy: Her Own Story was published in Children s books and photographic collections have also been produced to assist in telling the story of the champion athlete. The book jacket of Cathy: Her Own Story states that at the euphoric moment of her gold medal performance at the Sydney Games, Cathy Freeman symbolised our best and broadest vision of ourselves, a reconciled Australia. 7 She is considered a symbol of Australian cultural ideals. 8 Justin Flynn claims that many believe Freeman has done more for reconciliation than the official efforts of politicians. 9 In 2002, Opposition Leader Kim Beazley articulated the belief that Freeman s victory went beyond sport with his analogy that her win represented 400 metres of national reconciliation. 10

3 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags As Toby Miller has argued, the successful competitor helps to define the nation and, in turn, is identified through the concept of nationhood. 11 If an individual athlete were to be the embodiment of Miller s statement, one need look no further than Cathy Freeman. Many consider Freeman to be an Australian sporting icon. 12 David Williamson further argues that Freeman has moved beyond icon in this nation. 13 She is regarded as Our Cathy in a similar manner to the way Australians came to celebrate and own opera singer Our Glad, Gladys Moncrief in the 1920s and 1930s. 14 An image of Freeman in her hooded Nike bodysuit in which she ran at the Sydney Games featured on the cover of Great Sporting Moments: The Best Images of the Twentieth Century. When the Olympic city was bustling with sports fans and tourists, a huge 75-metre Nike advertisement featuring the famous runner was displayed on the side of the AON Tower in Sydney. When Freeman competed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, she was Australia s first Aboriginal representative in track and field. However, Cathy Freeman is not the only Aboriginal athlete to be considered a role model for her people. In Australia s sporting history, Aboriginal athletes have consistently and memorably carved out a special place in their chosen sport. Australia s first touring cricket team in 1868 was comprised entirely of indigenous Australians. Famous Aboriginal athletes have included: Australian Football players Michael Long, Gavin Wanganeen, Adam Goodes, Maurice Rioli, Graham Polly Farmer, Syd Jackson, Jim Krakouer, Doug Nicholls and Nicky Winmar; boxers Lionel Rose and Anthony Mundine; tennis champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley; and hockey player and runner Nova Peris Kneebone. By speaking out about racism, Freeman and others have provided opportunities for non-indigenous Australians to gain an insight into some of the injustices suffered by indigenous Australians. 15 An enduring image of 1993 the International Year of Indigenous People was that of St Kilda s Nicky Winmar holding up his football jumper and proudly displaying his black chest to a group of abusive Collingwood supporters. Racial vilification rules were eventually adopted by the Australian Football League in Like some of her famous sporting predecessors, Cathy Freeman has taken it upon herself to speak out on behalf of her people. She has criticised Prime Minister John Howard over his government s refusal to acknowledge the existence of the stolen generations and say sorry for the way in which Aboriginal people have been treated at the hands of white Australians for more than 200 years. 17 She has also been personally affected by the draconian policies of former governments that resulted in her grandmother being taken away from her family. Freeman explained that her grandmother didn t even know her birthday, so we didn t even know how old she was when she died. 18

4 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 Cathy Freeman and the Aboriginal Flag In 1990 Cathy Freeman was named the Young Australian of the Year. By the early 1990s, she had been identified as an athlete capable of representing Australia when she was chosen as part of the Melbourne bid team that contested for the rights to host the 1996 Olympic Games. Freeman captured the nation s attention in 1994 when she donned the black, yellow and red Aboriginal flag in the victory lap for her first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, symbolising the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Australia s Indigenous population. More than 300 million people watched Freeman s celebration of victory with the Aboriginal flag that Freeman had brought to the Games and left with a friend in the arena in case she won. 19 Freeman was severely reprimanded for this display of pride for her people by a senior official of the Australian Commonwealth Games team, Arthur Tunstall. However, Tunstall s objection was considered to be at odds with public opinion and that of the nation s leaders, including Prime Minister Paul Keating. 20 Freeman was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an individual gold medal at a Commonwealth Games. When she also won the 200 metre event a few days later, Freeman strategically waved both the Aboriginal and the Australian flags in her victory lap. This repeated the earlier provocative act but her display of both flags was done carefully, so as to appear a more inclusive action. Freeman claimed that she was not making a political statement, but rather making a statement about her heritage. 21 Freeman s apparently defiant act of running with the Aboriginal flag was applauded by most Australians. Colin Tatz asserted that Freeman s act of courage had a similar effect to the black-power salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the Mexico City Olympic Games medal ceremony in In many respects this marked the moment when Cathy Freeman became much more than just another champion athlete. Jock Given has argued that Cathy Freeman s action led to the Aboriginal flag being aligned with the concepts of nation and victory. 23 Prior to this, the flag was generally used as a statement of defiance at marches and demonstrations. John Hartley and Alan McKee presented a postmodernist perspective on Cathy Freeman s actions when they argued that images of Freeman with the flags ricocheted around the Australian mediasphere and it was the material presence of her body that reconciled two nations. 24 Richard Cashman has argued that with Freeman s use of the Australian and Aboriginal flags in her victory laps and the widespread displaying of the boxing kangaroo flag at sporting events, sport is contributing to the current debate on flag reform. 25 Other occasions when Freeman has flown the flag for her people have included the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games when she won a silver medal, the

5 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags World Championships in Athens, and the 1999 World Championships in Seville. Indeed, Hartley and McKee point out that Cathy Freeman became a visual mnemonic for Australia s representation at the 1996 Atlanta Games. When the media reported on the Atlanta Games, Cathy Freeman was the athlete most associated with the event. Hartley and McKee argue that in the pre-games guides to the 1996 Olympic Games, several newspapers presented Freeman as both representing the nation and standing for Australia s Olympic contribution. 26 An image of Cathy Freeman wearing the Aboriginal flag, together with fellow relay team member Melinda Gainsford draped in the Australian flag in 1996, was so powerful that the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (now Reconciliation Australia) appropriated the image for many years, promoting the case for a harmonious black and white Australia with the slogan Together We Can t Lose. The poster (which the organisation sends out to schools and other interested parties) was designed by Indigenous Australian writer and artist, Sally Morgan. The two joyful athletes are looking away from the camera that took the photograph, to another. While Gainsford takes up more of the poster space and the Australian flag draped on her shoulder is more dominant than Freeman and the Aboriginal flag, Freeman s masculinelike clenched fist in the top left hand corner of the poster symbolises her authority. The signifier of the clenched fist is an overt reference to the 1968 black power salute. The image represents contemporary Australia and has been distributed widely to promote a message of solidarity. The Aboriginal flag is indeed a powerful signifier. Designed by artist Harold Thomas from Central Australia, it was first flown in Along with the Torres Strait Islander flag, it was finally proclaimed as an official flag of the nation s indigenous people in The Aboriginal flag was also unfurled in 1972 when the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was first established on the front lawns of Old Parliament House in Canberra. It has been used as a statement of courage and survival at gatherings, marches and demonstrations such as the 1988 Bicentenary, Corroboree 2000, the Centenary of Federation in 2001, and the opening of Federal Parliament in The three colours of the flag present a strong message. Geoff Hocking explains that in the Aboriginal flag, the red panel represents the land; the black represents the people; and gold represents the sun, the giver of life. 28 Cathy Freeman has probably done more to raise the profile of the flag than any other Aboriginal Australian. Following Freeman s patriotic display of the Aboriginal flag in Canada, it was subsequently recognised as an official national flag, 29 with the Federal Government announcing that it would be flown at all of its ceremonial events. In 1995, John Howard had claimed that the decision to officially recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags was a divisive gesture.

6 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 Cathy Freeman has said that she runs for herself, for my family and friends and for my people and my country. 30 In writing about the much publicised event of displaying the Aboriginal flag at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Freeman explained: I pulled out my Aboriginal flag from the bottom of my suitcase. It s time to show the world This was my race and no one was going to stop me telling the world how proud I was to be Aboriginal. Somewhere deep inside, I d absorbed all the pain and suffering my people had endured and turned it into a source of strength All this pain inspires me. I want to be a freedom fighter. I want to break down the stereotype of Aboriginal people as alcoholics and criminals I feel this amazing affinity to my people and I carry around what has happened to them in my heart It wasn t until I got home and saw the thousands of letters and faxes that I began to comprehend the full impact of having carried the Aboriginal flag. 31 The story of the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games is also the story of Cathy Freeman. With the act of lighting the Olympic cauldron at the Millennium Games, Freeman came to embody many people s expectations for Australia s possible future: a reconciled nation. At the Opening Ceremony in September 2000, the important message of reconciliation between black and white Australia was loud and clear for the world to hear. If Australians had not understood the message when thousands walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in May for Corroboree 2000, or successfully decoded the symbolism of Nelson Mandela holding a young boy from the Indigenous Yorta Yorta tribe for photographers in Melbourne a week before the commencement of the Games, the imagery was made obvious to all at the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. Freeman Lights the Flame at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Although a limited number of dress rehearsal photographs had been released to a curious media and public, the specific details of the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony had been kept carefully under wraps. Those who had previewed the spectacle were sworn to secrecy. The biggest secret of all, much foreshadowed, was who would light the cauldron and how would it be lit? Ric Birch, who was chosen to orchestrate the Sydney Opening and Closing ceremonies, had a reputation for developing unusual ways to ignite the Olympic flame. At the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, archer Antonio Rebollo released a blazing arrow to light the flame, while at the 1996 Atlanta Games Birch had arranged for former world champion boxer Muhammad Ali to light the cauldron. As Alan Tomlinson states, No one witnessing this Ali-an act of reaffirmation could forget it. And it was great television. Like

7 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags no sportsman before or since, Ali has had a political, historical, worldwide resonance. 32 Jan Kociumbas argued that the choice of Cathy Freeman to light the Olympic flame in Sydney was foreshadowed at the Atlanta Games when Ali was chosen. She put forward the question: Can it be that by such performances, white settler nations present themselves as offering a gesture of public atonement for the wrongs of the colonial era, and indicate that such prejudices are now left far behind? 33 The Opening Ceremony was highlighted by the image to be emblazoned on the front pages of many of the world s newspapers the next morning Cathy Freeman standing under the Olympic cauldron against a backdrop of nature s contrasting elements fire and water. After being handed the flame, Freeman held the torch aloft then proceeded to jog up the stairs of the Northern stand towards a large iron structure. Freeman carefully walked across steps just below the water, again held up the flame, then leaned down to light a ring of fire that proceeded to rise from the water. The lone athlete was thus surrounded by a ring of fire that roared above her. The outline of the cauldron was revealed and water simultaneously cascaded down, thus signifying the supreme forces of nature. Freeman held her torch in the air while remaining in the centre of the circle. She then stepped out from the surrounding water to face the sheer might of the fiery cauldron. Up until this point of the evening, everything ran smoothly. However, the cauldron initially became jammed and failed to proceed to the top of the Northern stand. It was later revealed that a safety switch was triggered due to the cascading water and the mechanism had to be manually adjusted before the cauldron could make its way up to the top of the stand. As a result, Freeman stood perilously challenged by water and fire for 220 seconds before the flaming cauldron suddenly lurched then began its shuddering ascent. The symbolism of Freeman s lighting of the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony was significant and emblematic. Wearing a pure white bodysuit, the champion black athlete performed the key ceremonial act that marked the official opening of the Games. Freeman s white bodysuit signified purity, innocence and a possible new beginning for Australia. Reminiscent of her lighting the cauldron at the Sydney Opening Ceremony, the image of Freeman in a similar white bodysuit was also used to launch the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games in March Freeman chose to run in a Nike bodysuit known as the Swift Suit at the Sydney Games; in sharp contrast, Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe was instantly recognised for swimming in his Adidas Jet Concept black bodysuit. Both Freeman and Thorpe s respective bodysuits are now displayed on mannequins alongside each other at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games display at the National Sports Museum in Melbourne.

8 8 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 The selection of Cathy Freeman to light the cauldron was considered to be an inspired and highly appropriate choice. Harry Gordon argues that the Freeman culmination amounted to a quietly eloquent statement about the kind of nation Australia aspired to be. It underlined itself bodily as a significant moment in the nation s history. 34 It was certainly the defining image of the Sydney Games and will remain in the national psyche for many years to come. Janice Forsyth and Kevin Wamsley have pointed out that the symbolism of an Indigenous Australian lighting the Olympic flame was invoked by organisers to both create a sense of national community for Australians as well as project images of unification to the rest of the world. 35 John Sinclair argues that choosing Freeman as the final runner in the torch relay enabled the torch to fulfil its redemptive mission of reconciliation and inclusion. 36 Selecting Freeman for this central moment was also a significant and symbolic choice for race, nation and gender. This focal moment of the Games was to become a central theme in commentaries on the nation s identity from this time onwards. The international news media focussed on the issue of reconciliation as the dominant news story of the Games. David Carter argues that the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is the deepest issue for the question of national identity and community. 37 This central story was very much personified by Cathy Freeman. Channel Seven commentators Bruce McAvaney and Garry Wilkinson could not hold back their enthusiasm at the selection of Cathy Freeman to light the flame. It must rank as the greatest single event in the modern history of Australia. What an inspired choice! Cathy Freeman such a powerful statement. Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates later explained to the media, It is a very major statement that an indigenous Australian can light the flame at the Millennium Games. Freeman was presented as a national hero. 38 Marian Quartly states that Manning Clark would have referred to Freeman s lighting of the flame as an enlarging moment in history. Quartly argues that Cathy Freeman s still, waiting figure ringed with water and crowned with fire continues to resonate as a profound symbol of reconciliation and national regeneration (as yet unachieved). 39 Freeman s lighting of the flame served to emphasise the indigenous themes that were presented throughout the Opening Ceremony. The emphasis on Aboriginality continued on to the Closing Ceremony in a way that was partly orchestrated and partly developed a life of its own due to the actions of particular individuals such as Peter Garrett and the Sorry message. During Australia s Bicentenary in 1988, many Indigenous Australians and their supporters had protested against Australia s celebration of 200 years of white settlement with the slogans White Australia has a Black History and 40,000 Years Don t Make a Bicentenary. By the year 2000,

9 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags Australia s Aboriginal community were included in the telling of the story of their country: if only in a superficial manner. The unfortunate reality was that Indigenous Australians remained one of the most marginalised and sidelined groups in their own country. For the Sydney Opening and Closing ceremonies they were appropriated by event organisers to appease the world s media and a questioning global audience. The gesture was simply a token one, no more than smoke and mirrors. Australia s appalling record on human rights, health, education and life expectancy in this area remains unchanged. In the final words of the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony telecast (as aired in Australia on the Seven Network), Bruce McAvaney summed up the night as follows: Well, we said at the beginning of the night that on this night all Australia was one. Well, perhaps for the last few hours, the whole world was one. And for a few minutes one person was centre stage of the whole world. Cathy Freeman an island in fire. What a powerful image! What an Australian image! Who will ever forget it? And how will Australia sleep tonight? 40 Ric Birch and his team retold Australia s story with a new and fresh perspective. Phil Cousineau states that the audience was treated to a marvellously mythological opening ceremony that would have made the organizers of the ancient Games proud. 41 But for all that, the Opening Ceremony was by no means free of stereotypes. As Graeme Davison explains, Birch was playing to the expectations of the key audience, the United States: Ric Birch deployed a range of stock Australian images, especially those already familiar to American audiences through Australian art and film. American journalists dominated the international coverage of the 2000 Games and it was their reports that Australian papers reprinted in their own columns. Aboriginal reconciliation, the dominant motif of the Opening Ceremony and the cause personified by Cathy Freeman, was also the main focus of American news coverage. 42 The Race that Stopped a Nation Ten days after the Opening Ceremony, Cathy Freeman again had the hopes and aspirations of a nation resting on her shoulders. Journalists, social commentators, politicians, writers and academics have all commented on Cathy Freeman s 400 metre victory. David Williamson claims that as a result of the overwhelming expectations placed on Freeman, There s never been a day of such intense national tension in our history. 43 Harry Gordon cannot

10 10 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 think of another Australian athlete who has had to carry the expectations of a nation before competing. He states that along with the hopes of 19 million people, she seemed that night to be carrying the extra load of two hundred years of history. 44 Justin Flynn claims that the Freeman race sent nearly 19 million people into a frenzy of fist-thumping patriotic bliss. 45 In a comment that downplays Freeman s agency, Daniel Williams argues that more than merely representing Australia, she had through forces beyond her control come to embody it. Williams adds that on that night she carried the burden of a nation s hopes and insecurities. 46 Following the long prelude to the Sydney Games, particularly between 1994 and 2000, Freeman was deliberately placed by journalists and commentators in the centre of the media s spotlight being selected by Games organisers to present a particular image of a reconciled and unified Australia to placate both Australia and the watching world. By focusing on Cathy Freeman an Aboriginal Australian success story a superficial gloss was painted over the sad reality of Australia s treatment of its Indigenous people. Consequently, many media outlets consciously or otherwise played a role in misrepresenting the truth. McAvaney and former Olympian Raelene Boyle were selected as the Channel Seven commentary team for Freeman s race as broadcast to the Australian television audience. McAvaney introduced the race by declaring that It s fate of a nation time. 47 As Freeman was completing the race McAvaney excitedly called: Cathy, lifting Goes up to Graham. Takes the lead. Looks the winner. Draws away. This is a famous victory a magnificent performance! What a legend! What a champion! Reflecting the thoughts of Freeman and many Australians, Boyle added, What a relief. 48 After winning the race, Freeman was asked by a Channel Seven journalist how she thought her family would celebrate the win. She unwittingly replied, in a live-to-air comment, They d probably be drunk already. So as not to further alienate the Aboriginal community and cause offence, Channel Seven decided not to replay this comment. Freeman carefully collected both the Australian and Aboriginal flags from her support team in the crowd and waved them excitedly in her victory lap. In 1994 Arthur Tunstall reprimanded the use of the flag; six years later the Australian public expected Freeman to uphold this powerful symbol of her people s struggle. The Aboriginal flag was of course made even more powerful by her own prior actions. By this time, Cathy Freeman very much owned her flag, and the display was read as an inclusive gesture. 49 Prime Minister John Howard, who attended many of the events during the Sydney Games, was pointedly absent from Stadium Australia that evening. 50 Howard s absence from this significant event spoke volumes about his views

11 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags 11 on reconciliation and the way he perceived Australia s future. Howard s uncomfortable reaction to the strident pro-aboriginal messages at the Closing Ceremony a few days later, also did not go unnoticed by the television cameras. David Rowe and Deborah Stevenson have examined what they refer to as the Freeman Final and argued that the massive national collective investment in a Freeman victory that was deeply entwined with the indigenous theme that ran through the Games made for the most significant competitive event of the Sydney Games. 51 Rowe and Stevenson claimed that, almost everyone in Australia participated in the Cathy Freeman moment in some way and virtually all people they interviewed believed that the importance of the moment went far beyond sport. 52 While some Australians have debated which was Freeman s defining Olympic moment lighting the flame or the 400 metre victory Roy Hay argues that it was the combination of both events that did more to influence people s attitudes towards reconciliation than any other single episode in recent Australian history. 53 To capitalise on the significance of the moment from the perspective of Aboriginal Australia, caterers supplied hot chip boxes with an insightful message. Inside the chips container were the words, Sydney For more than 40,000 years Aboriginal people have lived at one with the land. The rest of us are still learning. The words at the base of the cardboard box sent a powerful message to those attending Freeman s race about black and white relations in Australia. The words, when placed in this context, are also an example of the sometimes close and overlapping connections between official and commercial nationalism. Commercial nationalism the adoption of national signifiers in order to generate profit is a continuation and extension of the overall theme, style and symbols of official nationalism that is generated by the nation-state. Commercial and official nationalism are directly related, and both contribute to the total discourse on nationalism. The official and commercial strands of nationalism are not binary oppositions; there is a significant degree of overlap between the areas. Commercial nationalism operates like a paradigm; it continues the pattern that has been firmly established by the official body. It is not in the interest of the private company to create conflict between these two types of nationalism; they are merely used for different purposes. 54 On the warm September evening when Freeman made Australian and sporting history, she chose to wear her sponsor s full-length Nike bodysuit as it helped seal off distractions, ease the burdens and clear her focus. 55 Freeman also wore her Nike runners in the colours of the Aboriginal flag. As primary sponsor, Nike was keen to emphasise their acknowledgement of Freeman s heritage by producing the red, black and gold runners for their champion athlete. The relationship between Nike and Freeman was both commercial

12 12 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 and mutually supportive. The famous shoes are now on display at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the previous Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Reebok were the favoured Olympic sponsor while Nike had openly attacked the Olympic ideals in their advertising campaigns. 56 At the Sydney Olympics, Nike switched their strategy and advertised their belief in the ideology of Olympism with their high profile Celebrate Humanity campaign. In sponsoring Freeman, Nike had successfully associated themselves with the champion runner and leading signifier of a reconciled Australia to promote their brand. Within minutes of Freeman s win, Nike had released an advertising campaign featuring the athlete. Spectators who travelled home from Stadium Australia were exposed to Nike s outdoor advertising campaign featuring Freeman s win, while television viewers would watch the new Nike commercial that evening. At the end of the historic race, a greatly relieved Freeman slumped down on the track for what seemed like an eternity (it was three minutes). In front of the world s television and press cameras she sat down on the track and soaked in the enormous energy that was generated from the jubilant crowd. Freeman then slowly and symbolically took off her Nike Aboriginal shoes, eventually got up from the track and danced barefoot with the Australian and Aboriginal flags for Australia s most anticipated victory lap. Of the historymaking event Freeman says It was wonderful, marvellous, the pinnacle of my career. But it was also incredibly traumatic. More traumatic than I allowed myself to feel at the time. 57 Consuming and Sponsoring Cathy Freeman Commentators talk about Freeman s inner beauty and the person (and indeed cause) that she has come to represent. In keeping with this image Freeman is known for her trademark giggles. 58 However it is her Aboriginality that is the particular focus of media attention. A significant body marking on Cathy Freeman s right arm are the tattooed words Cos I m Free. Freeman explains that the three words were the perfect statement for her because she has always been a free spirit and was not going to change. Freeman had also recently experienced new found freedom in her personal life and admitted that she could not get the song lyrics Cos I m free to do what I want any old time out of her mind at the time. 59 In the book Catherine: Intimate Portrait of a Champion, she explains that the tattoo means, Cos I m free to give. Cos I m free to receive. Cos I m free to be me. 60 The tattoo later inspired Irish songwriter Andy White to produce the song Cos I m Free which was performed by Aboriginal singer Christine Anu at the Closing Ceremony of the Sydney Games. After White wrote the song he explained I certainly had no idea that Cathy was about to become the most famous Australian on the planet. 61

13 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags 13 Cathy Freeman is extremely aware that she is both a national and international product to be exploited. When Raelene Boyle said, There s a lot of us who just consider Cathy a business, Freeman agreed. Oh gosh, yeah. I am a product, she said. 62 In 2002, Cathy Freeman was Australia s fourth most valuable sports superstar. The independent evaluation was undertaken by consulting firm Sponsorship Solutions, and Freeman was valued at $385,000. The figure was the price an organisation would pay in fees for the athlete to endorse a product or service. 63 Many world-class athletes have a number of sponsors and in the year of the Sydney Olympics, Freeman earned $1.2 million in sponsorship deals. Freeman is managed by International Management Group (IMG) Australia, the local branch of the global sports management monolith. 64 Freeman has had sponsorship dealings with a wide range of companies and brand names including: Nike, Qantas, Australia Post, Mitre 10, Channel Seven, Milo, News Corporation, Balarinji Design Studio, Kellogg s, Ford, Telstra, Optus, Oakley sunglasses, AstraZeneca pharmaceuticals, First Nations Australian Credit Union, PowerBar and Athletics Australia. Freeman overtly fosters and maintains her connections with Australia s Aboriginal community. Equally, indigenous organisations find it beneficial to make links with the star athlete. The front page of her official website was redesigned to emphasise Aboriginality and the flags. Her first sponsor was Aboriginal clothing company Balarinji Design Studio. In 1993 she wore a running outfit created by the company that featured an Aboriginal dot-painting design. In 2002, the credit union First Nations was launched. Freeman s face features on credit cards issued by the organisation to the Aboriginal community. Chairman Paul Briggs explained that the company aims to provide culturally appropriate financial services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. 65 In October 2006, Freeman announced her engagement to Melbourne stockbroker James Murch. The iconic landmark chosen for the marriage proposal was Uluru, as Freeman was filming a documentary on her life there for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Australia s popular landmark is described by David Carter as the spiritual or moral centre of the nation. 66 Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park, formerly known as Ayers Rock and the Olgas, were handed back to the traditional owners in 1985, and the area was listed as a World Heritage site in The handing back of the sacred and iconic tourist attraction to the Anangu people was described by the Bulletin magazine as a critical moment for the Aboriginal land rights movement, and a major milestone on the road to reconciliation. 67 The monolith has been frequently appropriated as the symbolic backdrop by companies promoting a message of commercial nationalism including advertisements for Kitten car polish, Solar Gard paint, and the well-known I Still Call Australia Home

14 14 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 campaign by Qantas. Similarly, the organisers of the Sydney Olympic Torch Relay made a point of emphasising Aboriginal Australia at the beginning of the relay with the choice of runners and the powerful signifier of Uluru in the background. Nova Peris-Kneebone was the first torch relay runner to carry the flame in Australia, television personality Ernie Dingo was the second runner, while former tennis champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley was the third. Tim Elliot argues that the key to Freeman s popularity lies in her unpretentious nature, and that despite her achievements, she remains self-deprecating. 68 Freeman s self-deprecation might also help explain why she remains so popular with many Australians. Cathy Freeman s role as an Australian sporting icon and symbol of reconciliation is extremely influential. Andrea Vollrath contends that Freeman s function as a mediator between sport, culture and political issues in Australia is particularly important for the various legacies of the 2000 Games. 69 Conclusion Highly selective media representations of Cathy Freeman have contributed to the way in which she has been consumed and understood in both official and commercial spheres. Freeman has been elevated to well above the status of one of Australia s great Olympians: she has taken on iconic status as a major representative of Australia, and was unquestionably the athlete of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Henning Eichberg argues that Cathy Freeman became the Australian celebrity of the Games because she gave a face to the other side of Australia. 70 After the 2000 Games, Freeman continued to be honoured with prestigious international sporting awards including the IOC s Olympic Order for Outstanding Achievement. The IOC website which features prominent athletes declares that Cathy Freeman is lighting the Flame for Australia. Other awards Freeman received have included the Female Athlete of the Year for the World Sports Awards, and the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award for both her sporting achievements and wider role as ambassador for indigenous Australians. 71 Freeman has also been presented with an Australian Export Award for her efforts in promoting Australia. 72 Some sections of the Australian community have viewed Australia s Bicentenary in 1988, the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and Australia s Centenary of Federation in 2001 as times of hope for reconciliation on key Aboriginal issues such as land rights, sacred sites, black deaths in custody, the stolen generation, housing, unemployment, health and even a possible treaty. Considerable steps toward reconciliation and a better understanding of indigenous Australia have been made over the past decade or two. One of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd s first priorities for his new government was

15 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags 15 to make a formal apology to Australia s Stolen Generations. The apology took place on 13 February 2008 and all living prime ministers (with the notable exception of John Howard, who was also absent on the night of Cathy Freeman s historic race) attended the event. The day before the apology, Parliament was officially opened for the first time with a Welcome to Country. In many ways the journey of Cathy Freeman and how she has been portrayed in the media can be viewed as a microcosm for nationalism in Australia. Between 1994 and 2000, Cathy Freeman became a leading representative of the Australian nation. She has helped influence the way Australians and the rest of the world think about this country, its people and its achievements. This article has critically examined images of Cathy Freeman at an important time some might say a turning point in Australian history. Further research might attempt to explore why some images of Australia continue to generate such distinct and unique meanings, while others fail to gain traction as Australia approaches the slow but inevitable twin realities of becoming a reconciled republic. Cathy Freeman has played a prominent role in this country s long and winding road to reconciliation. Notes 1 H. Gordon, The Time of Our Lives: Inside the Sydney Olympics, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2003, p P. Smith, It s Cathy We ll Remember, in D. Armstrong (ed.), The Australian: Record of the Olympics, Nationwide News, Surry Hills, 2000, p T. Bruce and C. Hallinan, Cathy Freeman: The Quest for Australian Identity, in D. L. Andrews (ed.), Sports Stars: Public Culture and the Politics of Representation, Routledge, London, 2001, p T. Elliot, Back in Business: The Reinvention of Cathy Freeman, Sunday Age, Sunday Life magazine, 5 June 2005, p A. McGregor, Cathy Freeman: A Journey Just Begun, Random House, Sydney, C. Freeman and S. Gullan, Cathy: Her Own Story, Viking, Camberwell, Freeman and Gullan, Cathy: Her Own Story. 8 I. Watts, Selling Australia: Cathy Freeman and the Construction of an Australian Identity, in K. Wamsley, R. Barney and S. Martyn (eds), The Global Nexus Engaged: Past, Present, Future Interdisciplinary Olympic Studies Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 2002, p J. Flynn, A Sporting Chance, in S. Singh, D. Andrew, B. Andy, M. Choy, H. Finlay, P. Greenway, K. Kenny, P. Morrissey, D. O Byrne, B. Scott (eds), Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait Islands Guide to

16 16 volume 25 no 2 November 2008 Indigenous Australia, Lonely Planet Publications, Footscray, 2001, p B. Neilson, Bodies of Protest: Performing Citizenship at the 2000 Olympic Games, in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol. 16, no. 1, 2002, p T. Miller, Sport, Media and Masculinity, in D. Rowe and G. Lawrence (eds), Sport and Leisure: Trends in Australian Popular Culture, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Marrickville, 1990, p R. Reed, Some Headlines you Might see from Manchester: She s Back, Herald Sun, 21 July 2002, p D. Williamson, Patriot Games, Australian Magazine, 7 October 2000, News Limited, p G. Hutchinson, True Blue, Viking, Camberwell, 2002, p G. Gardiner, Black Bodies White Codes: Indigenous Footballers, Racism and the Australian Football League s Racial and Religious Vilification Code, in J. Bale and M. Cronin (eds), Sport and Postcolonialism, Berg, Oxford, 2003, p M. Long, Sport: Connected to Culture, Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait Islands Guide to Indigenous Australia, p D. Day, Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2001, p S. Donnan, Aboriginal Star Rises above Aussie History, Christian Science Monitor, 19 September 2000, stories/0919donnan.html, accessed 15 March H. Gwilliam, Cathy Freeman, Hodder Headline Australia, Ryadalmere, 1998, p Day, Claiming a Continent, p J. Given, Red, Black, Gold to Australia: Cathy Freeman and the Flags, Media Information Australia, no. 75, February 1995, p Donnan, Aboriginal Star Rises above Aussie History. 23 Given, Red, Black, Gold to Australia, p J. Hartley and A. McKee, The Indigenous Public Sphere: The Reporting and Reception of Indigenous Issues in the Australian Media, , Oxford University Press, New York, 2000, p R. Cashman, Introduction, in R. Cashman, J. O Hara and A. Honey, Sport, Federation, Nation, Walla Walla Press in conjunction with the Centre for Olympic Studies, University of New South Wales, Petersham, 2001, p Hartley and McKee, The Indigenous Public Sphere, p G. Hocking, The Australian Flag: The First 100 Years, Five Mile Press, Noble Park, 2002, p Hocking, The Australian Flag, p Day, Claiming a Continent, p Basquali, Catherine: Intimate Portrait of a Champion, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, Freeman and Gullan, Cathy: Her Own Story, pp

17 Leanne White One Athlete, One Nation, Two Flags A. Tomlinson, Carrying the Torch for Whom? Symbolic Power and Olympic Ceremony, in K. Schaffer and S. Smith (eds), The Olympics at the Millennium: Power, Politics and the Games, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, 2000, p J. Kociumbas, Performances: Idigenisation and Postcolonial Culture, in H. Teo and R. White (eds), Cultural History in Australia, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2003, p Gordon, The Time of Our Lives, pp J. Forsyth and K. Wamsley, Symbols Without Substance: Aboriginal Peoples and the Illusions of Olympic Ceremonies, in K. Young and K. Wamsley (eds), Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games, Elsevier, Oxford, 2005, p J. Sinclair, More than an Old Flame: National Symbolism and the Media in the Torch Ceremony of the Olympics, in H. Wilson and J. Sinclair (eds), The Olympics: Media, Myth, Madness, Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy, no. 97, November, 2000, Australian Key Centre for Culture and Media Policy, Nathan, p D. Carter, Working on the Past, Working on the Future, in R. Nile and M. Peterson (eds), Becoming Australia, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1998, p C. Elder, A. Pratt and C. Ellis, Running Race: Reconciliation, Nationalism and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, vol. 41, no. 2, 2006, p K. Bail and D. Bagnall (eds), The 125 Moments that Changed Australia, The Bulletin, 10 May 2005, vol. 123, no. 6469, Australian Consolidated Press, p B. McAvaney, Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony, Seven Network, 15 September P. Cousineau, The Olympic Odyssey: Rekindling the True Spirit of the Great Games, Quest Books, Wheaton, Illinois, 2003, p G. Davison, The Imaginary Grandstand: International Sport and the Recognition of Australian Identity, in B. Whimpress (ed.), The Imaginary Grandstand: Identity and Narrative in Australian Sport, Australian Society for Sports History, Kent Town, South Australia, 2002, p Williamson, Patriot Games, p Gordon, The Time of Our Lives, p Flynn, A Sporting Chance, p D. Williams, Newsmakers of 2000: Cathy Freeman, Time, Europe, vol. 156, no. 26, 25 December 2000, magazine/2000/1225/poy_freeman.html, accessed 28 November Gordon, The Time of Our Lives, p D. Hoy and N. Richardson, Best in the Box, Herald Sun (Weekend supplement), 21 December 2002, p R. Cashman, The Bitter-Sweet Awakening: The Legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Walla Walla Press in conjunction with the Centre for Olympic Studies, University of New South Wales, Petersham, 2006, p. 70.

18 18 volume 25 no 2 November Day, Claiming a Continent, p D. Rowe and D. Stevenson, Sydney 2000: Sociality and Spatiality in Global Media Events, in A. Tomlinson and C. Young (eds), National Identity and Global Sports Events: Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in the Olympics and the Football World Cup, State University of New York, Albany, 2006, p Rowe and Stevenson, Sydney 2000: Sociality and Spatiality in Global Media Events, p R. Hay, The Last Night of the Poms: Australia as a Postcolonial Sporting Society? in J. Bale and M. Cronin (eds), Sport and Postcolonialism, Berg, Oxford, 2003, p L. White, The Bicentenary of Australia: Celebration of a Nation, in L. K. Fuller (ed.), National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political and Religious Celebrations around the World, Praeger, Westport, 2004, p N. Richardson, Win or Lose, She s a Champ, Herald Sun, 26 July 2002, p M. Payne, Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to Become the World s Best Known Brand, Praeger, Westport, 2006, p J. Magnay, The Queen is Dead, Long Live the Queen and her Knight, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 2003, p K. Ryan, Cathy Off and Flying, Herald Sun, 22 July 2002, p Freeman and Gullan, Cathy: Her Own Story, pp Basquali, Catherine: Intimate Portrait of a Champion. 61 P. Stewart, Cathy s Tattoo Breaks Barrier, Sunday Herald Sun, 2 June 2002, p Hiestand, 2002, Freeman Freeing Up Her Soul, USA Today, November , cover-freeman_x.htm, accessed 29 December K. Beikoff, Thorpe, Footy Hit the Jackpot, Herald Sun, 5 June 2002, p C. Stewart, The Fame Game, Weekend Australian (Review supplement), 1 September 2001, p A. Jackson, Olympic Runners Make a Sprint for Savings, Age, 21 March 2002, p D. Carter, Future Pasts, in D. Headon, J. Hooton and D. Horne (eds), The Abundant Culture: Meaning and Significance in Everyday Australia, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, 1995, p Bail and Bagnall, The 125 Moments that Changed Australia, p Elliot, Back in Business, p A. Vollrath, Eternity Games? Legacies and Collective Identity through Sports Events: Studies on Legacies of Community Building in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, in D. Adair, B. Coe and N. Guoth (eds), Beyond the Torch: Olympics and Australian Culture, Australian Society for Sports History, Melbourne, 2005, p. 91.