Cathy to run from memory

Cathy Freeman will be running from memory when she competes in the women’s 4x400metres relay at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

By joining the Australian team in England, the 29-year-old Olympic 400m gold medallist is acting on the wishes of her American husband Sandy Bodecker, who is battling cancer of the throat.

Freeman will not run in the individual one-lap race, which she won in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, as she has not achieved the qualifying time.

But she will leave for Manchester next weekend and take part in the relay, with the heats on July 29 and final the following day.

Today, she told Channel Seven how she needed to build up form before jetting over to join her team-mates, but she is not planning to race until she reaches England.

“I’m just a bit worried about my fitness, but I think I’ve got a bit more time on my side and my coach is confident,” she said.

“My body has an amazing memory with all the workload it has accumulated in the last eight or 10 years.

“I’ll probably run some trials and training, but no racing – probably nothing.

“I’ll get straight into it.

“I needed two conditions – two rules. That Sandy wasn’t going to be left alone and that I was going to be reasonably fit to do myself, my team-mates and my country some sort of justice.

“There will be a little bit of pressure, but I am very happy and excited that I will be racing.

“At the end of the day when I get out there I will try my hardest and have fun. I enjoy representing Australia – it gives me so much pride.”