Aussie surfer Stephanie Gilmore hopes to ride Olympic waves of success
Cathy Freeman’s memorable run to Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics has inspired her
Cathy Freeman’s memorable run to Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics is a moment her compatriot Stephanie Gilmore wants to emulate in Tokyo in 2020. The 31-year-old will bid to become the first women’s Olympic surfing champion, and with seven world titles to her name, the odds are in her favour. Gilmore, who began surfing at the age of 10 and first competed on the world circuit seven years later, says Freeman storming down the straight in Sydney to secure the 400m gold medal was etched in the memory of her 13-year-old mind. “Watching her [Freeman] win blew my mind,” Gilmore said at the Laureus Awards. “I was so inspired thinking she was a superhero, the suit she had on with the hood and everything. “Imagine the pressure of the entire world, not just Australia, on her shoulders. She did it so cool, calm and collected, incredible. “So when I heard surfing was in the Olympics, I said to myself, ‘Great I want to try and have a moment like that’.” Gilmore, though, is not already pla...
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