Cathy Freeman quotes

Twenty seconds before a race, there's absolute focus. The key thing is to achieve relaxation, but at the same to have absolute total control. You've got to find the balance between being totally ready to go and being really at peace with yourself as well.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Keys #Race #Focus

You got to try and reach for the stars or try and achieve the unreachable.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Motivational #Stars #Track

I'm so lucky. I have such a great support system. All I have to do is run.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Running #Support #Lucky

This occasion is personally very meaningful and I hope to visit Korea again if I have the chance.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Meaningful #Korea #Chance

I don't agree with everything Madonna's done but she is fearless.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Agreement #Fearless #Done

Australians are a fantastic bunch of people but the attention can be overwhelming for someone like me.
-- Cathy Freeman

#People #Attention #Fantastic

Between 1991 and 1997 I had really serious asthma.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Serious #Asthma

I don't have a lot of regrets in my life.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Regret

I definitely do things on my terms, it may not seem that way but I actually do.
-- Cathy Freeman

#May #Way #Term

I don't like people looking at me; I hate the attention.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Hate #People #Attention

I have time to breathe, time to be myself more often, I am a lot more relaxed and less guarded.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Breathe #Guarded #Relaxed

Realise there is always somebody else in the World who's not coping as well as you are.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Sports #World #Coping

I felt so full of gratitude and humility that I clasped my hands in front of me, closed my eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks to God... I had at last achieved something I'd wanted for so long... My insides bubbled with happiness. It was a dream come true.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Sports #Dream #Gratitude

I want to keep my private life private.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Want #Private Life

I made my first Australian senior team when I was 16, first Olympics when I was 19, and I retired. I'm 32, I retired four years ago, so a good third of my life or nearly a third of my life has been all about running.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Senior #Running #Team

I took only twice a time-out, once, when I was hurt, and a second time, when I much felt I was exhausted out of personal reasons.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Hurt #Exhausted #Reason

When I'm in a bad mood, I don't listen.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Bad Mood #Mood

I was running since I was 10. Since grade one at school people looked at me and thought, oh gosh she can really run, she's a natural.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Running #School #People

My last real race was at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Real #Race #Olympics

Disappointment and adversity can be catalysts for greatness. There's something particularly exciting about being the hunter, as opposed to the hunted. And that can make for powerful energy.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Leadership #Powerful #Disappointment

I want to be a positive role model, especially for kids and Aboriginal people... When people see me, often all they see is another Australian athlete having a go. It isn't until they see the full Cathy Freeman picture that they realise how proud I am of my ancestry and heritage. I'd like a little more tolerance and acceptance of my culture and all the differing cultures that make up Australia.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Leadership #Athlete #Kids

I have been told many times that when I win I make my people proud to be Australian. I am Aboriginal, I am one of them and every time I win or am honoured like this it should be an example to Aboriginal people who may think they have nowhere to go but down. But more importantly I am an Australian and I would like to make all Australians feel proud to be Australian. Ours is a truly multicultural society and should be united as such. I would like to believe that my successes are celebrated by all Australians, bringing our nation together.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Leadership #Believe #Winning

I was always surrounded by expectation from the very first race I ran as a 5-year-old.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Race #Years #Expectations

I think the greatest amount of pressure is the pressure I place on myself. So in a way I chose to be alone.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Motivational #Thinking #Track

People could see in me who I am now, an Olympic champ, the best in the world.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Motivational #Who I Am #People

I have a friend who, if she has a bad hair day, it affects her whole mood because it is part of her sexuality, her confidence. I don't have that problem any more.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Hair #Problem #Mood

I'm not a marriage expert, quite clearly.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Experts

The Athens Olympics will be meaningful even though I cannot participate as an athlete, since I can participate in the flame relay all over the world.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Motivational #Meaningful #Athlete

I decided that I was going to go to the Olympics to see if I had made the right decision to retire because I knew that if I'd made the mistake of retiring I would know during and after those Games in Athens.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Motivational #Mistake #Athlete

Money makes life easier but I don't want to be rich, not at all.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Life #Want #Rich

With Alexander's cancer, I was definitely brought to my knees for the first time because of the fear factor.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Cancer #Knees #Firsts

I feel like I've reached an age where I can relax a little bit with the knowledge of what I've been through, take all that experience and use it. I love the challenge of trying to get back to where I've been, and beyond it.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Challenges #Age #Trying

I lie around the floor with my cats Billy and Jazz or watch DVDs with my best friends.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Lying #Cat #Dvds

I like looking feminine and I enjoy being a role model. I enjoy being a woman. It all comes down to having the confidence to be who you are.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Role Models #Be Who You Are #Roles

Peace, unity and harmony!
-- Cathy Freeman

#Unity #Harmony

The thing I do best is laugh.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Laughing

I like being in the workforce; it keeps me grounded.
-- Cathy Freeman

#Workforce #Grounded