Freeman+No.2

My Cathy Freeman Speech... I Will Leap Through Life There was this indigenous women, who was born into a very poor family, had divorced parents, was sexually molested at the age of 10, had a beloved sister who suffered from cerebral palsy and died at a young age, and had a maternal side of the family that suffered as a part of the Stolen Generation. To everybody, this kid was surrounded by problems and grief. But this, this amazing woman; she could run. Oh yes, she could. She ran so fast that she went to the Olympics to win herself a gold medal, and also achieve the Olympic Order, the highest honour that the International Olympics Committee could give you. She also won about 27 more gold medals from other championships. And it just happens that this woman's name is Cathy Freeman. Cathy Freeman is a well-known athlete world-wide, and the reasons for this does not only include her athletic achievements. As an athlete, she did things that were against the rule, to show her pride in her background. She attracted much public attention for this, and her strong, graceful yet incredibly fast run has been a major triumph in Australian sports. Cathy was born on the 16th of February, 1973, into a family of athletes. Cathy's father and both grandfathers were legendary athletes, but the family was very poor. When she was 5, Cathy's parents separated and Cathy lived with her mother Cecelia and step-father Bruce Barber, even though Norman Freeman, her original father, still cared about his family. Cathy won most state and national titles for herself in her primary and high school life. She did this so easily and gained a lot of jealousy from diligently training students. Freeman entered Pioneer high school at first, then won a scholarship to Fairholme College, and suffered dormitory life. Then she won another scholarship to Kooralbyn International, where she met her first professional coach, Mike Dilna. During this high school life, Cathy made it to the Auckland Commonwealth Games, as a member of the Australian 4 x 100m relay team. To her delight, her team won a gold medal and explosive fame. And thus began Cathy's celebrity life. Cathy Freeman's life as a runner includes so many achievements. She won an Olympic gold medal in the Sydney Olympics and a silver medal in the Atlanta Olympics. Both were won in the 400m races. Cathy also won many other championships, and the number of her major gold medals all add up to 28. And that's only the major part of her gold medals. I can't imagine how many minor medals she won. She also achieved the places of both Young Australian and Australian of the Year, and is the only person ever to win both places in a lifetime. Freeman also received the Olympic Order, the highest honour you can achieve in Sports. Cathy Freeman's foundation can also be regarded a achievement, as she has made a big difference to the indigenous Australians on Palm Island. In all, I think that Cathy Freeman is a person with great influence on other people. She showed people how you could achieve such an enormous dream like her's, youth with Olympic goals that it isn't impossible. Many people tend to discourage youngsters bearing these sort of ambition by telling that not even 0.1% of students actually become a professional, well-known athlete. But Cathy Freeman is one of those real-life athletic stars that has gone through reality despair, but managed to fight, or should I say run through these tracks of gloom. I too, will not crouch down and wait for time to seep away. I choose to leap the race of life, of aspiration, like the remarkable Freeman.