Inside Cathy Freeman’s lost loves – including the A-list Hollywood hunk who she had an AFFAIR with during the dying days of her first marriage… and the coach who helped her to Olympic glory

The Australian sporting world is in shock after Cathy Freeman and her husband James Murch announced they are splitting after 15 years of marriage.

The 51-year-old Olympic gold medalist has had several high-profile relationships throughout her career, including with a famous Hollywood movie star and her former coach.

Below, Daily Mail Australia looks back at the legendary Australian athlete’s most famous romances.

Nic Bideau

In the 1990s, Freeman had a long-term relationship with her athletics coach and manager Nic Bideau, whom she once referred to as her “Prince Charming.”

Their relationship ended after she won her first world title in the 400 meters in 1997.

But she kept him on as her manager, which reportedly led to tensions with her next boyfriend and then-husband, Alexander Bodecker.

Bideau helped Cathy achieve her greatest achievement: winning a gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Afterward, the two celebrated her extraordinary performance.

Alexander ‘Sandy’ Bodecker

Freeman first married Nike executive Alexander “Sandy” Bodecker, who is 20 years her senior, in 1999.

Their four-year marriage had its ups and downs, and Cathy took a six-month break from the sport in 2002 to help Sandy recover from throat cancer.

The couple confirmed their separation in February 2003. Freeman would make a shocking confession in her memoir, Born to Run, that she had cheated on him in her last days.

Joel Edgerton

The Mackay-born athlete began dating Australian-born Hollywood hunk Joel Edgerton in 2003, after meeting him at the Logie Awards the year before.

Edgerton was starring in the Australian drama The Secret Life of Us at the time and the pair rose to fame after appearing together at several red carpet events.

In her memoir, Freeman revealed that she had an affair with Edgerton during her marriage to Bodecker.

The former 400m runner still remembers the moment she told her ex-partner Bodecker that she was ‘in a relationship’.

“Lighting the cauldron at the Sydney Games was a piece of cake compared to the excitement that coursed through my veins as I listened to Alexander,” she wrote.

“I see someone. It’s Joel Edgerton,” Freeman wrote of her conversation with Bodecker.

In 2005, they confirmed their split and Edgerton later told SBS that their relationship didn’t work out due to their incompatible lifestyles.

“She didn’t like public figures and didn’t like being in the spotlight,” Joel said.

James Murch

Cathy’s most recent relationship was with her second husband James Murch, whom she married in 2009 on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria.

The couple have a 13-year-old daughter, Ruby.

On Friday, they announced in a joint statement that they were separating and would continue to care for their daughter together.

“After 15 years of marriage, we have sadly separated. We will continue to co-parent and this is our top priority,” their statement reads.

‘We continue to enter into a professional and work-oriented collaboration through Estrella Sports Management.

‘Since this is a personal matter, we would appreciate it if you respected our privacy. We will therefore not comment further on this.’

Freeman made her name when, at the age of 16, she became the first Indigenous Australian to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games.

She went on to win two more gold medals at the 1994 Commonwealth Games and a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games.

She finished first at the 1997 World Championships in the 400 metres and again in 1999.

In 2000, the indigenous Australian athlete took the entire country by storm when she lit the iconic Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games.

She won the women’s 400 meters in 49.11 seconds with the entire country watching.

Freeman ended her sporting career in 2003 and later founded her own charity, helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote communities.