Twenty-two years since Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron to open the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the legendary gold medalist has no desire to put her talented daughter in the spotlight.
Freeman was delighted to be back in port on Thursday to promote the Sydney Running Festival.
“I am really excited to be here today. I’m still excited about that day 22 years ago, ”she said.
Winning gold in the 400m on 15 September 2000, under intense pressure to be the home favorite and the face of the Games, remains forever etched in Australian sporting folklore.
Freeman said she too will never forget the whole experience.
“For me it was probably seeing my parents, my family, on the winning lap. It was exciting, “said the 49-year-old.
“I don’t know how I found them but of course they knew where I was.
“It was nice to see them in the big crowd.
“But it’s also in private moments where you look and think ‘damn, it was interesting’ and I’m happy to still feel good and satisfied.”
But it’s unclear whether Freeman wants the same for his 11-year-old daughter, Ruby Anne Susie Murch.
With the same iconic running style as her mother, Ruby recently wowed onlookers as she beat her 200m rivals at a record pace at her school’s athletics carnival.
The widely circulated video shows Ruby running at Melbourne’s Murrumbeena Athletics Ground, where she also competed in the 100m, relay and high jump.
But questions about Ruby on Thursday were strictly off-limits, with Freeman’s PR officials saying he preferred to talk only about his own athletic prowess.
“For me, running has always gone beyond the physical phase,” he said.
“It was more something that generated a sense of inner peace.
“It might seem a little against that whole competitive side of running, but the real movement of running is like poetry to me.”