Freeman, who crowned her athletics career by winning the 400 metres gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics [Images], announced her retirement in July 2003 but said she would consider making a comeback.

The athlete told Sydney's Sun Herald newspaper on Sunday that she would only make a return if there was "overwhelming support" for her, and if she did, she would restrict herself to the 4x400m relay.

"If I was part of the relay I'd do it, but not the individual," she was quoted as saying.

"It would be a lot of fun. It would be enough motivation for me to get out there and try again."

Danny Corcoran, the chief executive of Athletics Australia, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that he had not heard anything from Freeman about a comeback but planned to speak with her.

"To make that decision there's an enormous amount of hard work and pain and training that goes along with that and I'm not sure at this point in time whether Catherine wants to go along with that," he said.

"She's achieved everything possible, and I've had no indication that this is the case that she wants to make a comeback. But I guess the next step is to sit down, have a chat, and see if there's any truth in it."