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Sydney - Australian Olympic champion Cathy Freeman on Monday revealed that she was expecting her first child and said she was "overwhelmed" by the pregnancy, which had triggered hereditary diabetes.
Freeman, a legendary Aboriginal sprinter with four Commonwealth gold medals and an Olympic title to her name, said she was safely through her first trimester.
"I was totally overwhelmed when I saw the ultrasound, hearing its heartbeat," Freeman, 37, told New Idea magazine.
"I am so totally lost in love with this baby already," she added.
"I think it will take my breath away when we first meet."
But the former 400m world champion said the pregnancy was bittersweet, triggering diabetes which left her injecting herself with insulin four times a day.
"It came as a jolt at first," Freeman said of the diagnosis.
"Being an elite athlete, I was really healthy, and I was really fit. I was one of the fittest women in the world. And then all of a sudden your body is disappointing you in a way. And it's like your pride gets hurt."
Freeman, who is married to financier James Murch and retired from running in 2003, said doctors had diagnosed her with type 2 diabetes but said it could go away again after the baby is born.
"So we'll just wait and see," Freeman said.
