Photo: Jason Pini/AusAID, CC BY 2.0 — Source
Australian sprinter of Aboriginal descent who won the 400m gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in one of the most iconic moments in Australian sporting history. She had earlier won gold at the 1997 and 1999 World Championships. Her victory lap at Sydney, carrying both the Australian and Aboriginal flags, became a powerful symbol of reconciliation. She had famously lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony — the first Indigenous Australian to do so. After retiring from athletics, she founded the Cathy Freeman Foundation to support education for Indigenous Australian children.
Source: Olympics.com