Cathy Freeman's advice for the Paris 2024 athletes

Cathy Freeman is without a doubt one of the greatest Olympic athletes in history.

All of Australia stood still, collectively holding their breath, as the sprinter secured Australia's 100th gold medal in the 400m at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

And as the Aussie team puts the finishing touches on their preparations to compete in Paris 2024 in the coming weeks, Cathy had some powerful words to share with them.

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"When it came to the running, it was freedom, complete freedom for me," she told Today.

"I think athletes like myself thrive on the Olympic environment to be really truthful - we love it."

While Cathy's Sydney 2000 race did score her the gold medal, completing it in 49.11 seconds, it is well documented she was actually disappointed with that time.

She had previously run the 400m in just 48.63 seconds at Atlanta 1996, a personal best for the now 51-year-old which scored her the silver medal behind France's Marie-José Pérec, who won the gold that year.

"Years go into preparing for these Games, they only happen every four years but there is so much that goes on behind-the-scenes," she said.

There will be 460 Australian athletes competing at Paris 2024 and Cathy had some important words for them to think about.

"I'd say never forget who you are, where you're from and who you belong to. I think that's really important," she said.

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"That kept me centred and grounded, there's a lot of noise around and excitement and emotion and it's what you want in an Olympic environment without a doubt.

"But if you can find that place within you where you feel at home, completely at home, I can promise you, it will make the journey a far more pleasurable one."

Cathy has teamed up with Ancestry to discover more about her DNA and the genetic makeup which makes her such an impeccable athlete.

"It's interesting because DNA testing can tell you so much, it really is fabulous," she said.

"You can learn where your strengths and not such great strengths are in terms of a whole bunch of performance traits and it turns out I had more endurance than speed, which I found interesting."

Watch Today's full chat with Cathy Freeman in the video above