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AllFlying |
Dawn Fraser
 She
has become a sporting legend and an Australian icon, with eight Olympic medals
and eight Commonwealth Games medals to her name. Born on September 4, 1937, in
Balmain, Sydney, Dawn Fraser began swimming at the age of five. After competing
in her first amateur race at fourteen, Dawn Fraser was disqualified because the
officials believed she had been involved with a professional club. She was banned
from swimming for eighteen months. This was the first of a great deal of trouble
that Dawn Fraser faced throughout her career with officials.
Dawn Fraser was
the youngest of eight children, with three brothers and four sisters. She enjoyed
many sports. “I had my first game of football on this oval here with my brothers.
We came down here for a school carnival and they were one short. I had very long
hair at the time and my brothers ran over to the caretaker's lodge and got a pair
of scissors and cut my hair so that I'd look like a boy… I played for the
school on the wing,” says Dawn.
Although she enjoyed a number of sports,
her love for swimming outweighed the rest. Dawn Fraser had originally begun swimming
because she suffered from asthma and swimming helped her breathing. Dawn's closest
brother Don would take her to the pool and encouraged her to train, however when
Dawn was only thirteen, Don passed away. “I can remember crawling through
the window where he was in the hospital…He said, 'you have a gift…keep
training for me' I s'pose those were the last words he ever spoke to me,”
says Dawn.
True to her brother's wishes, Dawn continued to train. A coach named
Harry Gallagher spotted her in the pool and offered to train her free of charge.
In 1953, Dawn swam in the New South Wales titles where she came third in the 110
yards freestyle (now 100m) and won the 220 yards freestyle in Australian record
time. Gallagher later moved to Adelaide and Dawn followed. She found work in a
large store and whenever Dawn wasn't at work she was training. During the summer
of 1955, Dawn Fraser won every South Australian freestyle title, including 110
yards, 220 yards, 440 yards and 880 yards.
Gallagher helped perfect Dawn's
style and in 1956 at the age of 19, Dawn qualified for the Melbourne Olympics.
She won gold in the 100m freestyle and silver in the 400m freestyle. Dawn became
a permanent member of the Australian Swimming Team and won two more gold medals
at the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Dawn won
gold in the 100m freestyle once again and was the only Australian woman at the
1960 Olympics to win a gold medal.
It was here however that Dawn also got
into trouble with the officials. “They'd tell me I'd have to go to bed at
9.30 at night time. After training for four years if I went to bed at 10.00 that
was fine, it suited me because that's what I trained my body to do…I wasn't
a fourteen or fifteen year old. I was an intelligent adult,” says Dawn. The
night after her gold medal win, Dawn partied through the night, returning to the
village at 3.00am. The following morning the women swimmers argued with her and
she hit a team mate in the face with a pillow. When she was asked to swim the
butterfly leg of the 4x100m medley in the qualifying heat at the 1960 Olympics,
Dawn declined claiming that she hadn't been given any warning. Her teammates refused
to talk to her. She also caused a stir when she wore a white tracksuit, rather
that the Australian green and gold when receiving her gold medal. Despite her
larrikinism her success continued. In 1962 Dawn Fraser became the first woman
to ever swim the100m freestyle in under one minute. This record was not broken
until eight years after Dawn had retired.
 Tragically
in 1964, Dawn's mother was involved in a car accident and passed away. Dawn received
neck and spinal injuries and nearly gave up swimming. The tragedy struck just
before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but Dawn decided to keep on swimming. She won
a record third Olympic gold medal in the 100m freestyle.
It was at these Olympic
Games in Tokyo that Dawn landed herself in the greatest amount of trouble. Her
disobedience began at the opening ceremony where officials had declared that no
swimmers competing within the first three days were to take part in the ceremony.
Dawn smuggled herself onto one of the buses and still marched in the ceremony.
Despite this Dawn was still asked to carry the Australian flag for the closing
ceremony. At 2.30am after some celebration, she tried to steal a Japanese flag
from the Emperor's Palace with some friends. Japanese police fled to the scene
and Dawn injured her ankle trying to escape. She was arrested at gun point and
brought in to the police station. However after she apologized, no charges were
laid and the emperor gave her the flag as a gift. Dawn carried the flag at the
closing ceremony, but was later banned from competition for ten years, although
the ban was lifted after four years. “I guess it retired me four years earlier
than I wanted to retire,” said Dawn.
The following year Dawn got married
to Gary Ware. They had a child together but the marriage didn't last and she moved
back to Balmain. She later started coaching as well as holding many other jobs
including running a cheese shop and a pub in her hometown. In 1988 Dawn Fraser
went into politics and was elected to represent Balmain in New South Wales politics.
She still loves the pool and lives in Balmain. “I have beautiful memories
of Balmain,” says Dawn, “I live in the house my parents lived in and
I was born in. I suppose I feel quite safe in it.”
Dawn Fraser continued
to win awards even after her retirement. In 1964 she won Australian of the year.
She received the Order of the British Empire in 1967 and in 1988 she was voted
the greatest female athlete and was also added to the Champions Hall of Fame.
The Sports Australian Hall of Fame named her the Australian Female Athlete of
the Century, while the International Olympic Committee named her the World's Greatest
Living Female Water Sports Champion in 1999. On July 14, 2000, Dawn received the
Australian Sports Medal for her services to sport. Dawn also carried the Olympic
torch at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
By Danielle Tralli
Links/sources
ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/australians/fraser.htm
ABC Radio National transcript of interview http://www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2002/sportsf/s444345.asp
NSW
parliament click
here
Olympic website http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/heroes/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=12954
Teachit http://teachit.acreekps.vic.edu.au/cyberfair2001/DawnFraser.htm
Wesley
http://www.wesleymission.org.au/reachout2000/sermons/fraser.asp
Women
Australia bios http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0178b.htm
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