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Following her successful 1994 season, Cathy Freeman had emerged as a
serious contender for the 400m title at the 1995 World Championships to
be held in Gothenburg in August 1995. In July at Nice, she had the
first of three encounters with Marie-Jose Perec from France, the
favourite for Gothenburg. Perec won the race in 50.20sec with Freeman
third in 50.60sec. They next met at Monte Carlo on 25 July, where Cathy
won in 50.34sec. Perec slowed considerably when it was obvious she
could not beat Freeman, and faded to 6th place.
At Gothenburg there
were three semi-finals in the 400m with the first two from each race and
the fastest two losers advancing to the final. Freeman won her
semi-final while the other two were won by Pauline Davis (Bahamas) and
Jearl Miles (USA). Perec comfortably qualified by running second behind
Miles. Freeman's relative inexperience in major championships showed
in the final. Cathy's usual way to run 400m was to start slowly, to be
in contention entering the straight, and then finish strongly over her
rivals, whereas Perec's modus operandi was to go out fast and break the
field early. In the final, Freeman went out far too fast actually
reaching 200m (23.3sec) before Perec (23.5sec).
They were level at
300m, but then Perec started to pull away, winning comfortably in
49.28sec. Freeman paid for her fast start near the finish, slowing
considerably in the last 50m, allowing both Davis and Miles to pass her
for the minor medals. Despite finishing 4th, Cathy did return home with
a medal from Gothenburg. Australia came third in the 4 x 400m relay,
finishing with a superb anchor leg from Freeman (49.57sec). (Ron Casey)
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