Mitchell Johnson’s greatest Olympic moments: Cathy Freeman, Kieren Perkins, Steven Bradbury and Dawn Fraser

1. Cathy Freeman (2000)

Cathy Freeman’s win in the 400m at the Sydney Olympics has to be the most iconic moment in Australia’s sporting history – not just at the Olympics but in sport in general.

Not only was Freeman our poster athlete for our home Games, she got the Olympics started by lighting the torch. It was an incredible honour for a current athlete bit it only ramped up the pressure and expectation further ahead of her event.

Freeman was a great ambassador for Australia and I remember the feeling of hope before the 400m final. The entire nation was right behind her and holding its breath, which Freeman came out and spoke about.

Her mind would have been racing, her emotions all over the place. Yet you still have to remind yourself to focus and treat it like any other race.

For the world record athletics crowd of 112,574, and the rest of us watching from home, it was really one the best memories that will be forever imprinted into my mind.

I recently rewatched the run to see how it would make me feel and it honestly gives me good bumps still 24 years later.

2. Kieren Perkins (1996)

It all started in 1992 in Barcelona, when a young Perkins dominated as favourite and took five seconds off his own world record to win gold in the gruelling 1500m freestyle.

But what I remember more clearly is four years later, when I was in year 10, and Perkins was struggling to defend his title in Atlanta.

It’s funny when I think back to that time. I loved all sports, even that 1500m freestyle final. It’s not an event I would normally sit down to watch but I was absolutely glued to the screen watching Perkins swim this event.

It is one of the great moments because it was totally different to four years earlier. Crippled by anxiety and self-doubt and carrying a serious diaphragm problem, he decided during his heat swim he didn’t even want to make the final.

But Perkins scraped into lane eight and 14min 56.40sec later he was a gold medallist again. I can remember being amazed at that pace for a long-distance race. It blew me away.

3. Australia 4x100m freestyle (2000)

Some of the great moments are about the build-up and the anticipation and the 4x100m freestyle final at the Sydney Olympics had it all.

It was a showdown between the underdog Aussies and the mighty Americans, whose perceived cockiness came out with Gary Hall Jr saying the United States would “smash them like guitars”.

A 17-year-old Ian Thorpe anchored the Aussie team, which also included Michael Klim, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus, with Thorpe holding off Hall as Australia broke the world record.

Strong rivalries are another reason why I love the Olympics. As an athlete, you need to be confident and sometimes project confidence, some like to be more vocal to get themselves going and to distract the opposition.

In this case, it might have done the opposite and fired up the Aussies, who celebrated by playing air guitars.

It was a goosebump moment and such a proud achievement for the team and for our nation.

4. Steven Bradbury (2002)

I’m switching to the Winter Olympics here but how could I leave out Steven Bradbury.

Absolute insanity! The two moments that happened for Bradbury in the semifinal and then final of the 1000m short-track speed skating, you just couldn’t make this stuff up.

I thought he deserved to get through his semi, he was able to stay up on his skates. And that’s the thing about speed skating, it looks like anything can happen and a bit of luck is needed.

In the final it wasn’t looking good with four or so laps to go and he was just cruising at the back. Then the invisible ten pin bowler got a strike and knocked them all down bar one and a stunned Bradbury crossed the line for our first ever winter gold.

I remember thinking, you bloody beauty! Even though the aftermath of it was about how lucky he was, for me he did everything right.

Bradbury knew his limitations in that field and deliberately stayed out of trouble. He said he accepted the gold not for the 90 seconds of that race but for the 12 years of training that led to that moment.

It’s in the history books now. It was an amazing sporting moment and a lesson to never give up.

5. Dawn Fraser and Betty Cuthbert (1956-1964)

Although I wasn’t born, these two amazing athletes are a big part of our Olympic history.

They were our Olympic giants of a golden era.

Dawn Fraser remarkably held the 100m freestyle record for 15 years, and was the first of only four swimmers to win individual gold medals for the same event in three successive Olympics.

Betty Cuthbert, our ‘golden girl’, won three gold medals on the track in Melbourne in 1956. She showed an Australian could be as good as anyone in athletics.

They both made history in their respective sports and continue to inspire new generations of Australian Olympians to this day.

In a way, Fraser and Cuthbert even helped inspire my love of sport. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up and I enjoyed hearing their stories about our Olympic greats from them. I remember my Nan talking about Fraser and how good she was.

I enjoyed hearing about our past Olympians from them, it made me proud and I probably even wanted to be an Olympian at some point.