Commonwealth Games Flashback: Cathy Freeman’s Aboriginal pride sparked Arthur Tunstall’s flag ban
CATHY Freeman and her coach Nic Bideau hatched their plan for one of the most controversial moments in Commonwealth Games history at the breakfast table.
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THE plan for one of the most controversial moments in Commonwealth Games history was hatched at the breakfast table.
Cathy Freeman was sitting with her coach Nic Bideau on the day of the 400m final at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, when she pulled an Aboriginal flag out of her bag.
Her instructions were simple — make sure there is someone at the finish line with this.
Freeman sensed this was her time. She’d made history four years earlier as a 17-year-old, becoming the first Aboriginal gold medallist in the 4x100m relay.
Since that moment she’d improved steadily, making the second round of the 400m at the 1992 Olympics and then the semi-finals at the 1993 world championships.
“I was ready and I knew it,” Freeman recalled. “This was my race and no one was going to stop me telling the world how proud I was to be Aboriginal.”
After surging off the bend, Freeman kept her word and held on to win the 400m gold medal in a Commonwealth Games record time of 50.38sec.
Immediately she scanned the crowd and saw one of Nic’s work colleagues sprinting down the stairs with her flag.
“I took the flag and draped it over my shoulders like a cape and trotted off. I wanted to shout, ‘Look at me, look at my skin. I’m black and I’m the best!’ There was no more shame,” Freeman wrote in her autobiography Cathy: Her Own Story.
“The moment was better than I could have ever imagined, even though in my dreams I was doing it at the Olympic Games. That will come in time, I told myself.”
She was then given an Australian flag and did a lap of honour, soaking up the greatest victory of her career.
There were no grand celebrations, as Freeman also had her eye on gold in the 200m, but when she woke up the next morning there was suddenly a lot more on her plate.
Unbeknown to her the Australian team’s chef de mission Arthur Tunstall had released a statement criticising her for carrying the Aboriginal flag and banning it for the rest of the Games.
He said all Australians had to compete under the one flag.
It quickly became a worldwide scandal and opinion polls were divided about her actions but Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating was on side, sending a telegram saying, in part:
“In the circumstances your carrying of both flags was an important reminder of your pride in your heritage as an Aboriginal Australian.”
Tunstall never told Freeman personally she couldn’t fly the Aboriginal flag if she won the 200m, in fact the only words he said to her when they crossed paths in the village was: “Good luck”.
The emotion and adrenaline was still flowing for Freeman in the 200m final and she felt like she was “flying” over the final 20m as she ran down the favourite, Nigeria’s Mary Onyali.
Her winning time of 22.25sec was not only another Commonwealth Games record but also a new Australian record.
Once again Freeman’s first thoughts were about the flag but she was cautious at the handover to avoid any further controversy,
She told team official Geoff Rowe to tie both the Aboriginal and Australian flags together before passing them to her.
Freeman’s stand is remembered as the most significant of Australian Commonwealth Games moments and years later she reconciled with Tunstall with the pair filming a tea commercial together.
In it Freeman asks Tunstall how he’d like his brew served and he then delivers the punchline: “Black is fine, thanks Cathy.”
Originally published as Commonwealth Games Flashback: Cathy Freeman’s Aboriginal pride sparked Arthur Tunstall’s flag ban