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 | | You are in: You are in: Athletics |
 | | Saturday, 2 March, 2002, 12:54 GMT Freeman beaten in Melbourne  Cathy Freeman became an Australian hero in Sydney Olympic 400 metres champion Cathy Freeman has been beaten by fellow Olympian Lauren Hewitt over 200m in her return to serious competition in Melbourne. Freeman, who has been on a break from athletics since her Sydney 2000 success, clocked 23.73 seconds to finish behind Hewitt in the Victoria state titles. "It was really hard, but I really needed it," said Freeman, who is bidding to come back for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester later this year and wants to defend her Olympic title in Athens in 2004.
"I've got to start somewhere. I've been wanting to concentrate on my shorter stuff because that's been a weakness," Freeman added. Hewitt said: "Having Cathy Freeman as a presence in any race is always going to get you a little pumped up." There was better news for Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan who made a winning return in Australia, just 10 weeks after the birth of her second daughter. The Olympic 5,000m silver medallist easily triumphed in the Melbourne meeting.
"Sophie was born 10 weeks ago today and I was back running within nine days," said O'Sullivan, after clocking 16 minutes 0.94 seconds to win the Victorian Open 5,000m title. "It is good to be back on the track. You always want to run faster but the conditions were not ideal. Another time I could have gone a minute faster." Now O'Sullivan will race in Sunday's Irish Cross Country trials after which she will decide whether to compete in the Worlds in Dublin in three weeks' time having already been pre-selected. O'Sullivan, who won by more than 27 seconds, made a similar rapid return to the track after the birth of her first daughter, Ciara, in July 1999. | | See also:  Other top Athletics stories:  Links to more Athletics stories are at the foot of the page. | |||
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