Aus should trust India's security arrangements for CWG: Cathy

Amit Kumar Das
Abu Dhabi, Mar 9 (PTI) Olympic gold medallist sprinter
Cathy Freeman today called on her fellow Australian athletes
to trust the security arrangements made by the Indian
government and travel to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games in
October.
The Olympics champion for 400m in the 2000 Sydney Games,
Cathy, who is here for the Laureus world sports award as a
member, said trusting the Indian officials will also help
participants to concentrate more on their sports.
"Trust the policy maker, experts, officials (of the
Commonwealth Games). As athletes they have to trust so that
they can focus on their sport," Cathy said, when asked what
would be her message to the Australian team which will travel
to India for the quadrennial event to be held from October
3-14.
Asked about the assaults on Indian community Down Under,
Cathy said, "It concerns me but it is not only specific to
India but any people. It is definitely an issue which is at
the heart of people's consciousness and awareness in
Australia."
"I know what it feels to lose someone but I can assure
you Australians generally are fair and good people. We will do
what we need to do to ensure that everybody is safe," she
added.
The four-time Commonwealth games gold medallist also felt
that athletes all over the world should abide by the where
about clause of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"I trusted the system, the rules. I became adaptable. I
didn't feel that it intruded into my personal life and I was
happy to cooperate on the issues that mattered. It was also
important for my conscious," she said.
Cathy praised Olympics gold medallist sprinter Usain Bolt
for his huge contribution towards making the sport clean and
fair, especially after being maligned by dope cases.
"He (Usain) is amazing, extraordinary, a character. He
seems to be a real delight. He has reignited people's faith
and imagination. There was a time when the biggest fear for me
was that everybody will assume that Olympics champions were
druggist but Usain proved a point against that. He is a
phenomenal sprinter."
Cathy, who won the Laureus award in 2001, said her
experiences in life contributed towards taking an important
decision to get associated with Laureus family as a academy
members for the first time.
"When you feel pain, it doesn't have any other way but to
face it and so you have to sort out what is meaningful to you
and so I am here now. They are community oriented, willing to
get their hands dirty to help people, talk about tough issues
like, criminal activities, under-privileged and poor
communities," said Cathy, who lost her brother Norman in a
motor-cycle crash in 2008. PTI ATK SHN