Shattering the glass ceiling in a footy-obsessed nation, three Australian women — including two Indigenous sporting icons — across three different sports have done it again and notched another win.
Cathy Freeman, Ash Barty and Sam Kerr are the three Australian sporting figures most admired by the public, a DemosAU poll of more than 5000 people found.
Olympic gold medallist sprinter Freeman led nationally, named by 10 per cent of respondents, followed closely by fellow Indigenous champion Barty and Matildas captain Kerr each sitting on nine per cent.
The results published Thursday speak to how Australia has embraced women's sport in recent decades, said DemosAU Head of Research George Hasanakos.
"It really shows Australians will revere sporting heroes regardless of their gender," he said.
The three women likely stood out from the crowd in part because each had featured in national moments of unity where the country rallied behind them, he said.
Freeman was forever etched in national sporting memory after winning gold in the women's 400m at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Barty was the second female tennis player in history to retire while still ranked world no.1 in 2022, when she was aged just 25 and had secured three grand slam singles titles.
She was on a equal footing with Kerr, who recently departed English club team Chelsea for US side Gotham FC and is the Australian women's national team's all-time leading goalscorer.
"Millions of us watched Cathy Freeman's Olympic gold medal, Ash Barty's Australian Open win and the Matildas 2023 World Cup campaign," Mr Hasnakos said.
Broken down by states, other sporting heroes such as NRL superstar Nathan Cleary was the second-most admired in NSW.
In Victoria, AFL great Neale Daniher, who died in May after a long battle with motor neurone disease, garnered the admiration of respondents as their number two.
The much-loved MND advocate received a state funeral in Melbourne in June attended by more than 5000 people.
Queenslanders gave a nod to rugby league heroes Johnathan Thurston and breakout star Reece Walsh in their top five.
Across all states, women topped the survey except in South Australia, where swashbuckling former Adelaide Crows AFL captain Taylor Walker took out the honours as the most admired sports person.
The online poll took place over three weeks from late May to mid-June with 5361 people aged over 18 participating.
Australian Associated Press
