Freeman hangs her boots

8216;8216;I don8217;t think I8217;ll ever get to experience that again, to achieve a childhood dream that I8217;ve wanted since I was 10 in the form of an Olympic gold medal, I8217;m happy with that,8217;8217; she said.

Freeman told Australian athletics head coach Keith Connor of her decision during a meeting in London. Connor, who had been hoping Freeman would go through with plans to run the 4215;400 metre relay in next month8217;s World Championships in Paris, acknowledged that his team would have to race without her.

8216;8216;It8217;s very sad news for the team and for us in athletics8230; But it also puts an end to speculation as to what she was going to do,8217;8217; Connor told the BBC. Speculation had been rife that Freeman might be on the verge of retirement, having announced last month that she planned to run the relay but not the individual event in Paris.

Freeman won the world title in both 1997 and 1999 but had still not posted an individual qualifying time for next month8217;s championships when she decided not to go ahead with the individual event. 8216;8216;I love running, it8217;s all that I have known, and I hope the hunger for individual success returns in the coming months,8217;8217; she had said in a statement at the time. Freeman, who as a schoolgirl used to run in bare feet along dry river beds, was only 16 when she won her first major gold medal 8212; in the 4215;100 metres relay at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland.

She went on to become Australia8217;s first aboriginal track and field Olympic athlete at the 1992 Games in Barcelona and two years later took the Commonwealth 200 metre and 400 metre gold medals in Victoria.