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Cathy Freeman's campaign to defend her 400m World title started
cautiously in 1999, following the injury that sidelined her for most of
the 1998 season. Her first major test occurred when she met Falilat
Ogunkoya (the 1996 Olympic bronze medallist) at Monaco on 4 August.
Ogunkoya had only four days earlier run 49.62sec, which would remain the
fastest time for 1999, in winning the Nigerian Championships at Lagos.
Freeman prevailed at Monaco in a closely run race in a time of 49.76sec
with Ogunkoya only 0.14sec behind. Freeman next won the British Grand
Prix event at Crystal Palace in 50.32sec with Ogunkoya again the
runner-up 0.10sec behind.
The attention then transferred to the World
Championships held in Seville. With archrival Marie-Jose Perec
unavailable due to injury, Freeman's main competition was expected to
come from Ogunkoya and the German Grit Breuer. Cathy breezed through
the two preliminary rounds, but drew the unfavourable lane 8 in the
semi-final. The field turned into the straight with Freeman two metres
behind Breuer, but Cathy then powered away, crossing the line first in
49.76sec. Breuer was never a factor in the final, being well out of it
by the 300m mark. Freeman and Ogunkoya entered the straight with Cathy
holding a slender lead. She quickly burnt off the challenge, and
finished strongly in 49.67sec easily holding of the fast finishing Anja
R¸cker (49.74sec), and Jamaican Lorraine Graham (49.92sec). It had
been a great year for Cathy Freeman.
She had been undefeated in 11
starts over 400m, had recorded three of the fastest five times of the
year, and had successfully defended her World Championship title. She
couldnít have wished for a better preparation to tackle the following
year's dream challenge - winning an Olympic Gold medal in front of an
Australian home crowd. (Ron Casey)
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