Legendary status finally catches up with Freeman: By Len Johnson

As many an opponent found, Cathy Freeman was a very hard person to catch.

In a sense, it was a belated recognition of a status long since awarded by most Australians. From her laps of honour with the national and aboriginal flags in Victoria, Canada, after winning the 200 and 400 metres at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, through her epic losing battle with Marie-Jose Perec in the Atlanta Olympic 400 metres final and her two world championships gold medals, to the final climactic moment in Sydney – they had long since associated her with heroic deeds.

Fans sometimes accord legend’s status too freely – how often is the match-winning goal or game-saving mark or tackle hailed with the words: “(insert player name here), you legend!”

Similarly, those who exhibit sporadic brilliance, or endearing characteristics seen as embodying the spirit of their sport or team, can be too readily elevated to legend standing.

But rarely are fans wrong in recognising and acclaiming ‘legends’ those they have given more considered reflection. Never under-estimate the collective wisdom of those with an emotional connection to a sport.

Bodies such as the Sport Australia Hall of Fame must follow a more rigorous and more consistent process before, usually, arriving at the same outcome.

So it was with Freeman, who was elevated as the 2011 legend when most of the audience had had her there since 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 or, if none of those, since 2000. As Bruce McAvaney (who else?) took Freeman through her career it was amazing how the goose bumps still came watching her wins in Victoria, Athens, Seville and, especially, Sydney 2000.

It was also a moment to reflect on the power of television. How fortunate we are to have available the brilliant footage of the past 20-30 years. How great would it be to see the feats of Jackson, Strickland, Landy and Elliott in such vivid detail.

Freeman becomes the seventh track and field athlete to be accorded legend status. For a sport which, justifiably in this writer’s view, sometimes sees itself as under-rated, it is an impressive number, almost double any other sport.

Tennis is next with four, each of swimming and AFL has three.

Athletics’ ‘magnificent seven’ are Freeman, Edwin Flack, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Shirley (Strickland) De La Hunty, John Landy, Betty Cuthbert and Herb Elliott. Tennis has Margaret Court, Evonne (Goolagong) Cawley, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. Swimming’s legends are Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose and Shane Gould.

Cathy Freeman is these days Catherine Murch. She, and husband James, have just become the proud parents of baby daughter Ruby Anne Susie. Her passion is now channelled into the Catherine Freeman Foundation which works on closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians through education. The focus so far has been on Queensland’s Palm Island, the fourth-most disadvantaged community in Australia (according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures), where Freeman’s mother and grand-parents lived.

Sport Australia is an umbrella organisation for all Australian sports. Its 33 legends reflect this, representing 15 sports in all. Looking at the list, and the nominees and award winners on the night, it must be said that SA does an excellent job of acknowledging excellence and achievement across the board.

The main annual award is ‘The Don Award’ named after the first inductee into the Hall of Fame, Sir Donald Bradman. ‘The Don’ honours the current athlete who, by their achievements and example over the previous 12 months, has done most to inspire the nation.

Sally Pearson, the 100 metres hurdles world champion, US women’s open tennis champion Sam Stosur, and swimming’s sprint world champion James Magnussen would all have been worthy winners, but it was a bad year to be anyone other than Cadel Evans. The man who was responsible for more sleep deprivation than anyone else in Australian history was a runaway winner with his historic Tour de France victory.

Evans’ performance and Freeman’s in Sydney 2000 were also enshrined in the Hall of Fame as great sporting moments.

The seven inductees into the Hall of Fame included former Sun News Pictorial (and then Herald Sun) journalist Judy Joy Davies (the others were cricketers Glenn McGrath and Belinda Clark, triathlete Greg Welch, basketball player, coach and administrator Lorraine Landon, boxer Kosta Tszyu and surfer Layne Beachley).

A former Olympic and Empire Games swimmer, Judy Joy (as she was pretty well universally known) covered athletics, swimming and other ‘minor’ sports for 34 years.

I’m not aware - and I’m not going to risk spoiling things by asking – of Judy Joy ever covering Australian Rules football. In a lifetime reporting sport in football-mad Melbourne, that would be some kind of record.