Dawn Fraser

 

Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Australia
Womens Swimming
Gold	1956 Melbourne	100 m freestyle
Gold	1956 Melbourne	4x100 m freestyle relay
Silver	1956 Melbourne	400 m freestyle
Gold	1960 Rome	100 m freestyle
Silver	1960 Rome	4x100 m freestyle relay
Silver	1960 Rome	4x100 m medley relay
Gold	1964 Tokyo	100 m freestyle
Silver	1964 Tokyo	4x100 m freestyle relay

Dawn Fraser AO, MBE, (born September 4 1937) is an Australian champion swimmer.

She was born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, into a working class family. She was spotted at an early age of 12 by Sydney coach Harry Gallagher swimming at the local sea baths.

Known for her politically incorrect behaviour or larrikin character as much as her athletic ability, Fraser won eight Olympic medals, including five golds, and six Commonwealth Games gold medals. Fraser also held 39 records. She held the 100 meters freestyle record for 15 years and 1 month from December 1 1956 to January 8 1972.

She is the first of only two swimmers in Olympic history (Krisztina Egerszegi being the other) to win gold for the same event at three successive Olympics (100 m: 1956, 1960, 1964).

In October 1962 she became the first woman to swim the 100 metres in less than a minute. It was eight years after she retired before her record was broken.

In 1965 Fraser retired from swimming, after the Australian Swimming Union placed her under a ten-year ban. Things had come to a head when, at the Tokyo Olympics, she marched in the opening ceremony against their wishes, wore an old swimsuit (which angered sponsors) because it was more comfortable, and, it was alleged, she climbed a flagpole in Emperor Hirohito’s palace, taking the Olympic flag (later proved false). The ban was lifted four years later.

Fraser then became a publican, swimming coach and in 1988 was elected a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the seat of Balmain in Sydney. The seat was abolished in 1991 and she left politics.^[1]

She was named Australian of the Year in 1964, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1967 and on June 8 1998, was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). That year she was voted Australia's greatest female athlete. She was named Australian Female Athlete of the Century by the Sport Australian Hall of Fame. In 1999 the International Olympic Committee named her the World's Greatest Living Female Water Sports Champion.

She was one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, as one of the runners for the final segment, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame.

She was one of the contestants in a 2005 season of the Seven Network's Dancing with the Stars.

In 2005, she was seriously embarrassed when the retirement investment company that she and Paul Cronin had been advertising on television for some years, collapsed and the directors fled, owing their investors millions of dollars. Fraser and Cronin made a public apology for their unwitting contribution to the financial plight of many people.

Dawn is a high profile supporter of the Wests Tigers rugby league Team and a member of the team's board of directors. Prior to its merger with Western Suburbs she had supported Balmain Tigers, having lived for many years in the suburb of Balmain.

Dawn Fraser has one daughter, Dawn-Lorraine (named after her swimming friend, Lorraine Crapp), from an early marriage that ended in divorce. She has never remarried, which led some people to assume she was a lesbian. In her autobiography (2000) she strongly denied this.

The Australian Sport Awards includes and award named in honour of and presented by Fraser.

Swimming achievements

• 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games
  • 100 metres freestyle - gold medal
  • 400 metres freestyle - silver medal
  • 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay - gold medal

• 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games
  • 110 yards (100.58 metres) freestyle - gold medal
  • 4 x 110 yards (4 x 100.58 metres) freestyle relay - gold medal

• 1960 Rome Olympic Games
  • 100 metres freestyle - gold medal
  • 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay - silver medal
  • 4 x 100 metres medley relay - silver medal

• 1962 Perth Commonwealth Games
  • 110 yards freestyle - gold medal
  • 440 yards freestyle - gold medal
  • 4 x 110 yards (4 x 100.58 metres) freestyle relay - gold medal
  • 4 x 110 yards (4 x 100.58 metres) medley relay - gold medal

• 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games
  • 100 metres freestyle - gold medal
  • 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay - silver medal.

• Australian Championships
  • 110 yards freestyle: 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964
  • 220 yards freestyle: 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964
  • 440 yards freestyle: 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964
  • 110 yards butterfly: 1960, 1962
  • 220 yards medley: 1959
  • 4 x 110 freestyle relay: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1964
  • 4 x 110 yards medley relay: 1955, 1964

Preceded by Sir John Eccles

Australian of the Year 1964

Succeeded by Sir Robert Helpmann

Notes

External links

• Swimming Australia profile for Dawn Fraser
• Australian Olympic Committee Profile
• Dawn Fraser at the Internet Movie Database

Olympic champions in women's 100 m freestyle

1912: Fanny Durack | 1920: Ethelda Bleibtrey | 1924: Ethel Lackie | 1928: Albina Osipowich | 1932: Helene Madison | 1936: Rie Mastenbroek | 1948: Greta Andersen | 1952: Katalin Szöke | 1956: Dawn Fraser | 1960: Dawn Fraser | 1964: Dawn Fraser | 1968: Jan Henne | 1972: Sandra Neilson | 1976: Kornelia Ender | 1980: Barbara Krause | 1984: Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer | 1988: Kristin Otto | 1992: Yong Zhuang | 1996: Jingyi Le | 2000: Inge de Bruijn | 2004: Jodie Henry

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