Trudy Bray schrieb: > CNNSI > Running for a reason > > Peris-Kneebone hopes to bring attention to > Aborigines > > Posted: Tuesday June 06, 2000 10:44 AM > > DARWIN, Australia (AP) -- The > Australian who'll be the first Olympic > torchbearer on home soil is looking > forward to highlighting the plight of > the country's indigenous people. > > Nova Peris-Kneebone, the first > Australian Aborigine to win an > Olympic gold medal, will carry the > flame when it lands Thursday at > Uluru, or Ayres Rock, in central > Australia. > > "To be an Aboriginal person myself > and to carry that flame -- the world's > going to be talking and it's a chance for us to tell the world > about our culture," she said Tuesday. > > Peris-Kneebone was part of the Australian women's field > hockey team that triumphed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. > > And -- like 400-meters world champion Cathy Freeman, also > an Aborigine -- she thinks she can help unit black and white > Australians by competing at the Sydney Olympics. > > She'll have to make Australia's track and field team first. > Peris-Kneebone quit hockey after winning gold at Atlanta to > take up athletics, her favored sport as a child. She'll compete > for a spot on the Australian team in the sprint events at the > selection trials in August. > > After a flight from New Zealand, the Olympic flame was set > to land in the dusty red heart of Australia early June 8, where > the 29-year-old Peris-Kneebone will take the torch once it has > been ignited. > > Peris-Kneebone, herself a traditional owner of land in a region > further north near the Kakadu National Park in northern > Australia, will hand the torch onto the Uluru-Kata Tjuta > people, custodians of the world's largest monolith. > > About 20 Uluru-Kata Tjuta people will continue the relay > around the huge red rock before the torch proceeds on its > journey north to Alice Springs. > > From there, the relay will embark on a 100-day, > 27,000-kilometer (16,740-miles) route around Australia, > involving about 11,000 torchbearers and passing within driving > distance of 80 percent of the population. > > Its final destination is Sydney's main Olympic venue, Stadium > Australia, on Sept. 15, where the flame will be used to light > the cauldron during the opening ceremony to mark the start of > the 2000 Games. > > Asked whether Thursday's activities would enhance a push > for reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous > Australians, Peris-Kneebone said it was impossible to change > long-held prejudices overnight. > > "We have had injustices in our past," she said. "You can't > change our past but you can acknowledge it. Once you > acknowledge it then we can all move forward," she said. > > Despite living in Australia for 40,000 years before white > settlement in 1788, Aborigines have been granted only limited > land rights. > > Prime Minister John Howard has been widely condemned for > refusing to apologize for the practices of past governments > which have left the original inhabitants as Australia's most > disadvantaged minority. > > Aborigines, comprising about 386,000 of the almost 19 million > population, have the poorest health and education, and highest > rates of alcoholism, infant mortality and imprisonment. > > Meanwhile, Peris-Kneebone said the recent torch relay flap > involving International Olympic Committee vice president > Kevan Gosper had not detracted from the magnitude of the > event. > > Gosper sparked controversy Down Under for allowing his > daughter to replace an Australian-Greek schoolgirl as the first > Australian torchbearer following the May 13 lighting ceremony > in Greece. > > "I think it's already recovered - the spirit is there ... it's a time > for all Australians to start to get excited about it," she said. > > Peris-Kneebone, who was the 1997 young Australian of the > Year, has been training in her home town of Darwin, the > capital city of Australia's Northern Territory, in recent weeks. > > She said she plans to leave Australia on June 11 to train and > compete in the United States and Europe before returning to > Darwin to prepare for the trials. > > ************************************************************************* > This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without > permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, > scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal > copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of > the copyright owner, except for "fair use." ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." 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