Olympic excitment

• Jade Belling, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2005

OLYMPIC EXCITMENT
You would never believe what happened to me at the 2000 Olympics, because if somebody told me, I certainly wouldn’t believe them.

My family and I went on a holiday. We went to the Olympic Games in Sydney. The Games were unreal.

Towards the end of them, we went to watch Cathy Freeman race. We went about an hour earlier, so we could sit in the front row. All the athletes were stretching and warming up. I was so excited to see Cathy and all the other athletes. As more people came into the stadium, it was almost time for them to race.

BANG! Off they went.

They were running extremely fast, so fast, you could barely keep your eye on them. All eyes were on Cathy, because she was about 10 metres in front.

Of course, Cathy ended up winning. Screams of excitement came from the crowd. I was the only one who gave her a standing ovation. She was looking around at the crowd. Suddenly she stopped and walked over to me. I didn’t know what was happening. She lifted me over the barriers. When she put me down, she told me that I looked like her little cousin. She asked me if I wanted to go on a victory lap with her. I excitedly said yes.

She gave me the Australian flag and she held the Aboriginal flag, proudly above her head. We went for a lap around the track.

Everybody in the crowd, including my family, were gob smacked. When we had finished the victory lap, the rest of my family came over and introduced themselves. Cathy Freeman asked if we wanted to have tea at the hotel she was staying at, so we did.

We enjoyed the rest of our holiday with Cathy. It was awesome. We were just about to leave to go home, when Cathy said she would come and visit us. I got in the car and shut the door. Cathy suddenly ran over and tapped on the window. I wound down my window; she handed me her gold medal and asked me to keep it, in memory of the 2000 Olympics. I tried to hand it back to her, but she insisted I have it. I said thankyou, then wound up my window and we drove away, while she was waving madly.

When I got home I put it on my mantel piece; it has been there ever since.