Australian Olympic 400 metres gold medallist Cathy Freeman has revealed she suffered depression and loneliness before and after her victory at last year's Sydney Games.
Freeman said she had been through periods when she felt frightened and had doubted herself because of the strain of trying to live up to other people's expectations of her.
Speaking today at the launch of a programme to tackle youth suicide in Australia, Freeman said: "I'm only 28, but I still have my days when I get really down and you feel really lonely. You feel scared.
"People sort of put me up on a pedestal. I am supposed to be this really tough athlete now, Olympic champion and all the rest of it, but I still have my days where I get depressed and I question my self-worth, I feel inadequate".
Freeman became a symbol of reconciliation between black and white Australians when she lit the flame at the opening ceremony for the Sydney 2000 Olympics before going on to win gold.