How West Aussie Sam Kerr plans to channel Cathy Freeman at Tokyo Olympic Games

Sam Kerr will draw inspiration from an iconic moment in Australian sport when she leads out the Matildas for their opening game of the Olympics against New Zealand at Tokyo Stadium.

The former Perth Glory superstar, and now the world’s most talked-about footballer, was a seven-year-old in East Fremantle when Cathy Freeman won gold at the Sydney Games.

“I remember Cathy Freeman still to this day,” Kerr said.

“I’m still inspired by Cathy Freeman. I hope that we can be. … what Cathy Freeman was to kids like us.”

The trailblazing Matildas captain, 27, has played in three World Cups and won domestic titles but admits the Olympics is something special.

Camera Icon The iconic Cathy Freeman moment at the 2000 Olympics. Credit: THOMAS KIENZLE/AP

Fans will be waiting for the trademark backflip goal-scoring celebration with Kerr hoping to erase the memory of the 2016 quarterfinal penalty shoot-out, that saw the Matildas exit the Rio Olympics to hosts Brazil.

“Any time I pull on the jumper I feel really proud, but to call yourself an Olympian is something special,” Kerr said.

“Not many people get to do it so I’m really proud to be an Olympian and to represent Australia.

“It’s different to say a World Cup just for the fact that it is the Olympics. It’s a little bit prestigious, it’s just overwhelming.”

Kerr leads 12 Rio Olympians returning for their second Games with six set to make their Olympic debut and accepts she will be the centre of plenty of attention.

But she said: “My job is to worry about performance and the most important game is the first game against New Zealand and that’s all I’ve really thought about and all I’ve really worried about.

“What better way to start the Olympics than against our rivals, New Zealand. That first game for us is like the final at this point.”

There are other squad members playing overseas like Lyon defender Ellie Carpenter, Arsenal trio, Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Lydia Williams, and W-League Championship match-winner Kyra Cooney-Cross.

They are joined by teenagers Cooney-Cross and Mary Fowler with Teagan Micah, Emily Gielnik, Hayley Raso and Aivi Luik as the six Olympic debutants.

The Matildas will need to get out of their recent form slump and forget an Olympic history that has seen them twice bow out in the quarterfinals.

They must find form after conceding 13 goals in four games, including heavy defeats to Germany and the Netherlands and dropping to ninth on the FIFA rankings.

They are in a tough group, with top-ranked USA, No.5 Sweden and New Zealand.

The top two finishers from each group qualify as do the top two third-ranked teams across the group stage.

Kerr was not undaunted by the draw.

“I think it’s a tough group, obviously, but when you go to an Olympic Games and a World Cup, you want to play the best and beat the best so it’s a good challenge for us.” she said

Australia open their Olympic campaign against New Zealand on July 21.

Kerr has been a revelation since joining Chelsea from Glory.

She won the Golden Boot as the English Women’s Super League top scorer with 21 goals and seven assists in 22 games as Chelsea won the League and Cup double.

Kerr was runner-up in the English Football Writers’ Association women’s footballer of the year.

The 2018 Young Australian of the Year has reached dizzy heights since her first senior international appearance in 2009 as a 15-year-old.

She represented Australia at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 Women’s Asian Cup tournaments, the 2011, 2015, and 2019 World Cups — when she became the first Australian player to score a hat-trick — and 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

She has already scored 42 goals in 88 Matildas games.

She dominated the US National Women’s Soccer League where she was the all-time leading scorer and W-League for five years.

The latest golden boot was her sixth for four different teams — Glory, Sydney FC, Chicago Red Stars and now Chelsea.

She was the 2017 Julie Dolan Medal as the best player in Australia, a four-time winner of the PFA’s Women’s Footballer of the Year Award, the first Australian women’s footballer to be named on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or in 2018 and 2019 and voted International Player of the Year by the Football Media Association in 2013 and 2014.

She became the first Australian to play in the Women’s Champions League final in 18 years but her dream of sealing a triumphant season turned sour as Barcelona outclassed the English champions with a 4-0 in the final in Gothenburg.