Was Cathy Freeman the first Aboriginal to compete at the Olympics?

Freeman began competing on the advice of his stepfather. At the age of 17, she won a gold medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games as a member of the 4 × 100 meters relay team and was named Young Australian of the Year. In 1992, she became the first Australian Aboriginal to compete at the Olympics.

What did Cathy Freeman do at the 2000 Olympics?

She became Olympic champion for the women's 400 meters at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where she lit the Olympic flame. Freeman was the first Australian Indigenous person to become a Commonwealth Games gold medalist at the age of 16 in 1990.

When Australian Cathy Freeman won a gold medal at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, she celebrated by doing a victory lap while carrying the Aboriginal flag. The flag has become a symbol of unity for Aboriginal people and a symbol of their race and identity.

When did Cathy Freeman represent Australia at the Olympics?

She was the first Indigenous Australian to represent Australia in athletics at an Olympics at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she had the honor of lighting the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony.

Who was the Aboriginal woman who lit the Olympic flame?

Freeman lit the Olympic flame at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and won a gold medal in the 400 meters at those Games. Freeman's grandmother was part of the "stolen generation" of Aboriginal people in Australia – from the early 20th century until the 1970s; many Aboriginal children were taken from their parents to be raised in state-run institutions.

How old was Cathy Freeman when she won her first gold medal?

In 1990, Freeman was selected as a member of Australia's 4 × 100 m relay team for the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. The team won the gold medal, making Freeman the first ever Aboriginal Commonwealth Games gold medallist, as well as one of the youngest at 16.