Cathy Freeman (from Wikipedia)
Freeman’s personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec’s number-four time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women’s 400 meters at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.
Freeman was the first Indigenous Australian person to become a Commonwealth Games gold medalist at age 16 in 1990. The year 1994 was her breakthrough season. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, Freeman won gold in both the 200m and 400m. She also won the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics and came first at the 1997 World Championships in the 400 m event. In 1998, Freeman took a break from running due to injury. She returned from injury in form with a first-place finish in the 400 m at the 1999 World Championships. She announced her retirement from athletics in 2003.
Marie-José Pérec (from Wikipedia)
Pérec won the 1991 World Championships 400 meters title in Tokyo and repeated the feat at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. She was also the 400 meters champion at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. She entered the 200 meters and 400 meters events at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and won both, thus achieving the second-ever Olympic 200 meters/400 meters gold medal double, after Valerie Brisco-Hooks in Los Angeles 1984. Pérec won the 400 meters title in an Olympic record time of 48.25 seconds, which also ranked her as the third fastest woman of all time. It took 23 years until 2019 before Salwa Eid Naser surpassed her mark to push Pérec to number 4 of all time.
In addition to her Olympic and World titles, Pérec also won the 400 meters title and was a part of the gold medal-winning 4 × 400 meters relay team at the 1994 European Championships in Helsinki.
Sanya Richards-Ross (from Wikipedia)
Richards-Ross’s notable accolades in 400m include being the 2012 Olympic champion, 2009 world champion, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, and 2005 world silver medalist. With her victory in 2012, she became the second American woman to win the 400 meters at the Olympic Games and the first American woman to earn multiple global 400-meter titles. At this distance, Richards-Ross is also a six-time U.S. national champion (2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2012).
A formidable competitor throughout her career, Richards-Ross ranked number one in the world from 2005 to 2009 and again in 2012 in the 400 meters. She set the American 400-meter record of 48.70 seconds in 2006 and was named the IAAF 2006 Female World Athlete of the Year, an honor she received again in 2009. Richards-Ross also holds the record for the most sub-50 second sprints in the history of the event, with a career total of 49 times. In addition to her individual achievements, she won three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 4 × 400 meters relay at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Summer Olympics, as well as five total relay medals from multiple World Athletics Championships.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo (from Wikipedia)
Miller-Uibo is a two-time Olympic champion after winning the women’s 400 meters at the 2016 Rio Olympics and again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
At the World Athletics Championships, Miller-Uibo won silver medals in the 400m in 2015 and 2019, and a bronze at the 200m in 2017 when she also placed fourth at her longer distance. In 2022, she won her first world outdoor and indoor 400m titles. She holds North American records in the 400m both outdoors and indoors, set in October 2019 and February 2021, respectively. Her marks of 48.36 (improved at the Tokyo Games) and 50.21 seconds place her respectively sixth and joint eighth on the world all-time list. She holds world bests over the 300 meters outdoors and indoors.
At 16 years old, she was the 400m 2010 World junior champion to take the World youth title a year later. At 19, Miller-Uibo placed fourth in the 200m at the 2013 World Championships, and then took her first senior medal (a bronze) at the 2014 World Indoor Championships competing at 400m. She was the 2018 Commonwealth Games 200m champion and won four Diamond League titles, having secured the 200m/400m double in 2017; she owns circuit records in both disciplines.
