I Should Have Quit After Olympics, Says Freeman

Breaking Ground: Cathy Freeman reveals her regret at not quitting athletics straight after winning Olympic gold in Sydney 

 IN one of her most candid and frank interviews, Olympic Champion and one of Australia’s most loved athletes, Cathy Freeman, opens up to Breaking Ground host Kelli Underwood on how she wishes she had quit the sport after the Sydney Olympics.

Freeman, who brought the nation to a standstill when she won gold in the 400 metres, admits to Underwood that she beats herself up about her decision to race for a further three years.
“‘I remember crossing the line midair and thinking to myself I can finally actually relax,:” she says.
“I said to myself so this is what it feels like to be an Olympic champion. That’s all I needed in terms of my life as an athlete and I knew I should have walked away from the sport then.”
Premiering Tuesday on FOX SPORTS 503, Freeman tells of how sport helped shape her life: “I definitely felt very odd without structure in my life, without discipline, without goals in my life, without belonging to something.
“I was a single girl and I was really quite lost there for a few years in my private life. My identity absolutely took a thrashing there for a little while.”
She touches on her daughter Ruby’s potential to follow in her famous mother’s footsteps along with her regrets over not pursuing longer distances or the hurdles during her professional career.