Quotes from Cathy Freeman

I was going to shave it. It went in two parts. I got a bob first but it kept falling all over my face. Then it was off, short. The main reason it was long was because my mother cut it short when I was little and I was trying to make up for that.

Money makes life easier but I don't want to be rich, not at all.

You got to try and reach for the stars or try and achieve the unreachable.

This occasion is personally very meaningful and I hope to visit Korea again if I have the chance.

I think the greatest amount of pressure is the pressure I place on myself. So in a way I chose to be alone.

I was always surrounded by expectation from the very first race I ran as a 5-year-old.

My last real race was at the Olympics in Sydney in 2000.

Disappointment and adversity can be catalysts for greatness. There's something particularly exciting about being the hunter, as opposed to the hunted. And that can make for powerful energy.

Realise there is always somebody else in the World who's not coping as well as you are.

I am very determined and the sport is my passion. I believe I am born for running.

My mind is pretty made up that life for Cathy Freeman will be as an unmarried woman from now on.

I don't agree with everything Madonna's done but she is fearless.

I don't have a lot of regrets in my life.

I want to keep my private life private.

I was running since I was 10. Since grade one at school people looked at me and thought, oh gosh she can really run, she's a natural.

With Alexander's cancer, I was definitely brought to my knees for the first time because of the fear factor.

I'm doing something now where I'm going to have to learn so much and that takes time nurturing, those kinds of relationships.

I have time to breathe, time to be myself more often, I am a lot more relaxed and less guarded.

I don't like people looking at me; I hate the attention.

I like being in the workforce; it keeps me grounded.

I took only twice a time-out, once, when I was hurt, and a second time, when I much felt I was exhausted out of personal reasons.

I lie around the floor with my cats Billy and Jazz or watch DVDs with my best friends.

I made my first Australian senior team when I was 16, first Olympics when I was 19, and I retired. I'm 32, I retired four years ago, so a good third of my life or nearly a third of my life has been all about running.

When I'm in a bad mood, I don't listen.