Kerryn McCann celebrates - Melbourne (© Getty Images)
Wollongong, AustraliaThe Australian athletics family are in mourning over the death this morning of Kerryn McCann, a triple Olympian and winner of two Commonwealth Games gold medals in the marathon.
McCann, 41, who died of cancer, was one of the most loved and most modest Australian sportswomen.
Cathy Freeman, the Golden Girl of the Sydney Olympics, paid tribute to her friend who had made her Olympic marathon debut at the Atlanta Games four years previously.
“I found her to be a lovely lady, a warm and friendly person - just a gorgeous person,” Freeman said of McCann with whom she had attended many international championships from 1994 to 2002.
“Kerryn will be greatly missed. She was one of the more beautiful people I’ve known. I send out our deepest sympathies from my partner [James] and my family to Kerryn’s husband Greg and their kids.”
The McCanns have three children: Benton, age 11, Josie, 5, and Cooper, 15 months. Kerryn was pregnant with her youngest when she first received the cancer diagnosis, but she refused treatment for a month until Cooper could be safely delivered (prematurely) before starting radiation and chemotherapies.
Krishna Stanton, who took the silver medal in the famous Aussie clean sweep of the women’s marathon at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, was in tears when she spoke from her home in Brisbane today.
Stanton, who became a mother before the Manchester Games, and former world triathlon champion Jackie Gallagher took the minor placings, finishing some five minutes behind gold medallist McCann.
“But all she could say was ‘it doesn’t matter about me - what about you! You did it,’ even though I was miles behind her,” Stanton, her Manchester roommate, recalled today. “She was happier for me than for herself when we ran in Manchester.
“Kerryn was the kindest soul - such a fierce competitor yet so gentle, but put a pair of running shoes on her and she was so competitive.”
Stanton flew down to Sydney on Sunday and drove to the McCann home in Coledale on the south coast to pay her last respects to her friend.
“Zac [her son] and I were due to come down next weekend and Greg said you better come down sooner. I got to see Kerryn and she knew I was there so it was great,” Stanton added.
“What an amazing lady; anybody who wasn’t as strong as her wouldn’t have put up such a fight against the cancer.
“We made a pact after Manchester in 2002 to keep going until the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. It didn’t work out for me, but I went to Melbourne to cheer her on.
“For her to run even better in Melbourne was stunning. She had such a strong marriage to Greg and such a strong sense of family. She said she didn’t know where she found the energy to finish the marathon with another gold medal in Melbourne, but I’m sure knowing that Greg and her mum and dad and children and all her friends were in the stadium lifted her.
“Kerryn’s death puts things into perspective. It just seems so unfair, so unjust. There are three beautiful kids without a mum. People who knew her will all say they hold her in the highest regard as a mother, as a person and as a friend.”
The lasting impression of McCann was when she successfully defended her Commonwealth title at Melbourne, two months short of her 39th birthday, with the tenacious Kenyan Hellen Cherono refusing to be dropped as the pair exchanged the lead several times before entering the cavernous MCG stadium to the thundering roar of more than 76,000 spectators.
“All my pain went away, I just floated around that last 300 metres, it was just amazing,” McCann said after what she described as her greatest race.
“I just thought 'get into the stadium and let the crowd do the rest' and they did.
“The crowd just lifted me, I think I ran the fastest 300 metres I have ever run in my life.”
Tributes flowed from all around Australia from fellow marathoners such as Steve Moneghetti and former sprinters including Raelene Boyle.
“Diminutive in stature but huge in courage and attitude, we have lost a special lady,” said Moneghetti, bronze medallist at the 1997 Athens world championships marathon.
“Kerryn McCann exhibited all the characteristics that make Australia great – tough work ethic, loyalty and a caring nature. Always putting others before herself she was such a perfect role model for us all.
“I have lost my close personal friend with whom I shared so many wonderful adventures. We are all so much better for having shared the road of life with her. Over but certainly not out, we will miss her dearly.”
Boyle described McCann “as brave in life as she was in running”.
“She had this extraordinary talent and who will ever forget the battle with the African girl here, where I think Kerryn herself said she had decided that silver would be fine for her and they were running across the bridge and about to come into the MCG and she thought ‘no, I can win this’.
“She won it by just metres after running 42 kilometres - a very brave woman.”
Mike Hurst - The Sydney Daily Telegraph for the IAAF
