The athletics world is buzzing about Cathy Freeman and whether she will make a comeback for the Commonwealth Games. Some think the lure of the Melbourne Games may just be enough to bring her out of retirement and others say she is unattached now and that may make it a little easier.

There is no doubt she is one of our greatest legends, and her victory in Sydney was one of the highlights of the Olympics, but you have to ask who would really be the big winner out of this.

It certainly raises questions about athletics in Australia. Could the sport be that anxious that its best option is to try to get Cathy out of retirement? Tamsyn Lewis was quoted as saying she was desperate to have Cathy back, but why so desperate, Tamsyn? Is it that you think your only chance of a gold is if you drag Cathy back? The other big winners, of course, would be the organisers of the Games. But even they recognise there is no point pushing her if her heart is not in it.

It seems an innocent statement: "If your heart is not in it." The reality is: never a truer word was spoken. International sport is a full-time profession. The training our athletes put in would match that of any business executive - in fact, probably more, because sport always follows you home.

With the high level of commitment needed in professional sport, the single biggest ingredient needed is desire: a desire to win, a desire to be the best, a desire to see how far you can go.

It's this desire that allows you to forsake the easy option and do the right thing. To stay home and rest, when all your mates are going to the pub. To keep pushing through the pain when no one would question you for stopping.

To endure the daily battles with the doubts and fears that come with giving all you have just to see if you can do it in front of the world. This is why we love sport and our sporting legends. If everyone could do it, we wouldn't care so much.

Cathy is without doubt one of our legends. Her performance in Sydney, with the whole nation on her shoulders, will go down as one of Australia's sporting highlights. Who could forget the look on her face when she crossed the line. Relief, disbelief, pain, pleasure, pride in her achievement. Gold.

After the Sydney games Cathy had a couple of years off and then tried to come back. I've never spoken to her about this, and in Athens she was enjoying herself so much it seemed unfair to question her decision to retire.

But I have no doubt that when she got back into competition it seemed much harder than it had been before. The challenges were no longer such fun. The mistakes didn't firm the resolve, the hard was nothing more than that, hard.

Once you have seen the other side, it's nigh on impossible to go back. World sport is littered with athletes who try to come back from retirement and don't make it. A few do but they often feel as if they haven't achieved all they could and that there is something to prove. Cathy has nothing to prove and she knows it.

This is where the push to get her back running is so wrong. Why come back if you have nothing to prove? Why risk your reputation for someone else's benefit? Why push yourself and risk finishing with bitter feelings towards something you have loved for so long? There is no reason. Cathy always said she ran for herself and that is all she should ever do.

My message for Cathy: please keep it that way. If you want to come back, great, we'll all support you 100 per cent and look forward to seeing you run in the green and gold again. But if you'd prefer to continue enjoying your retirement, meet me at the bar in Melbourne next March. We can have a beer together and enjoy not having to train the next day.