Cathy Freeman to take year off

Australia's Olympic champion Cathy Freeman announced on Thursday she was taking a year off athletics because she was drained from the pressure of winning gold at last year's Sydney Games.

The 28-year-old told a Melbourne news conference she needed a break but had no intention of retiring and would defend her 400 metres title at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

"I'm going to spend time with my family and just have a break to recover and get refreshed and be able to come back a newer and hungrier athlete," Freeman said.

"I'm just looking to have a rest. I'm a little bit tired from pushing myself every day."

Freeman's coach Peter Fortune said he supported her decision to take a year off and said it did not spell the end of her career.

"She's still very keen to keep competing and training...but we think it's the best thing at the moment," Fortune said.

"As you can imagine after the Olympics, the whole motivation thing had to be re-looked at...but I'm quite positive she'll be back as good as ever."

Freeman's decision to take a rest means she will miss this year's world championships in Canada and the Goodwill Games in Brisbane. Freeman had won the women's 400 at the last two world championships.

The Australian said she would continue training during her sabbatical and was eyeing a return to competition at the start of next year with her first major goal the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

"I'm a little bit tired from pushing myself in the morning and in the afternoon every day - on the track, on the hills, in the gym," Freeman explained.

"It's a question of fire in the belly and fire in the heart."

Freeman's decision to take a break came as no surprise after she announced last month she was skipping the Australian track and field season because she was still exhausted from the Sydney Olympics.

Questions about her athletic future had been raised almost as soon as she crossed the line to win the gold medal because of the enormous public pressure she had been under.

Freeman was the face of the Sydney Olympics and while her victory remains one of the most enduring and symbolic moments of the Games, it took its toll on her.

While most Olympic champions jumped for joy at the realisation of what they'd done, Freeman slumped to the track, gulping air and shielding her head in her hands as the weight of expectation was suddenly lifted from her shoulders.

As Australia's most prominent Aboriginal sports person, Freeman had been thrust into the country's 200-year struggle for reconciliation between blacks and whites.

Not only did she have to carry the hopes of Australia's track and field team but also the aspirations of an entire people.

A notoriously shy woman, Freeman spent most of the two years leading up to the Games training and competing in the United States and Europe but was immediately thrust into the world spotlight when she was selected to light the Olympic flame at the Opening Ceremony.

It was a hugely symbolic moment for Australia's indigenous people but only served to add to the pressure on Freeman.

She won universal praise for the graceful way she coped with the pressure and has been showered with prizes and honours in the months since but her hopes of a peaceful life have never materialised.

She has been inundated with media and sponsor demands, cannot walk down the street without people stopping her, and is also involved in a legal dispute over money.