The Catherine Freeman Foundation

LATEST NEWS

Catherine Freeman Looking Forward to Beijing and the Pressures on Liu Xiang
Jul 16, 09:42 PM

There’s less than a month from the first day of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and I, like so many people around the world, am most excited about it all, and am really looking forward to it.

I’ll be over in China for the Games as a spectator in the crowd -which will be quite a different point of view compared to that of a participating athlete – which i’m more accustomed to.

From 1992- 2000 I competed in 3 olympic games, and it was in my final appearance as an athlete in Sydney, that I achieved my childhood dream of a track gold medal in front of my own home country.

The Sydney 2000 Olympics Games is a time in my life I will cherish forever and even now, nearly 8 years on, the memories still burn so strongly that they give me a warm and satisfying feeling. Sometimes it feels like it all happened just the other day!

The victory lap I ran, after I clinched my gold medal in the
400 metres, is the greatest Olympic highlight for me, whilst on the other hand, when I consider the pressure, expectation, and the attention that surrounded me at the time, I honestly feel quite unwell!

I’m so glad I didn’t realise the intense public and media interest surrounding me back then, as I fear I may have buckled under the massive weight if I had been aware.

Chinese athlete, Liu Xiang, is the current World and Olympic Champion for the mens 110 metre hurdles who only recently had his world record taken off him by a fierce rival from Cuba.

In an event where thousandths of seconds makes the difference between being remembered as a champion or a loser, Liu Xiang will undoubtedly be the Games most watched athlete expected to win by his fellow 1.3 billion countrymen.

Chinas only male athletics Olympic Champion is under pressure to perform and win, so if it’s any consolation, his coach has publicly ruled out all likelihood of his athlete lighting the Olympic cauldron in his home Olympic Games opening ceremony.

So, while we’ll be watching from our lounge rooms, sports bars, or from the seats of the Birds Nest stadium in Beijing, my only advice to Liu Xiang is to just breathe, breathe, breathe, and to just do what you know!

We’ll all be on the edges of our seats watching Liu Xiangs’ fate unfold at the Beijing Olympic games in less than 13 seconds!