Dawn FraserACMBE (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion
swimmer and former politician. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle.[1]
Early life
Fraser was born in the Sydney suburb of
Balmain, New South Wales, in 1937 into a poor working-class family, the youngest of eight children.[2] Her father, Kenneth Fraser, was from
Embo, Scotland.[3] She was spotted at the early age of 14 by Sydney coach Harry Gallagher swimming at the local sea baths.
Swimming career
Fraser won eight Olympic medals, including four gold medals, and six
Commonwealth Games gold medals. She also held 39 records. The 100 metres freestyle record was hers for 15 years from 1 December 1956 to 8 January 1972.
In October 1962, she became the first woman to swim 100 metres freestyle in less than one minute.[4] It was not until 1972, eight years after Fraser retired, that her 100 m record of 58.9 secs was broken.[5]
Several weeks before the
1964 Olympics, Fraser was injured in a car crash that resulted in the death of her mother Rose. Her sister and a friend were also travelling in Fraser's car when it crashed, but they survived.[6] This was a fresh tragedy for Fraser and her family following her older brother's death from leukaemia in 1950, and her father died after a long battle against cancer in 1960.
1964 Summer Olympics incidents and ban from swimming
During the
1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Fraser angered swimming team sponsors and the Australian Swimming Union (ASU) by marching in the opening ceremony against their wishes, and wearing an older swimming costume in competition, as she found it more comfortable than the one supplied by the sponsors. She was also accused of stealing an Olympic flag from a flagpole outside
Emperor Hirohito's palace, the
Kōkyo. She was arrested but released without charge. In the end she was given the flag as a souvenir.[7]
Fraser later denied having swum the moat to steal the flag, telling The Times in 1991: "There's no way I would have swum that moat. I was terrified of dirty water and that moat was filthy. There's no way I'd have dipped my toe in it."[8] The Australian Amateur Swimming Association banned Fraser from competitive swimming for 10 years.[9]
Fraser married Gary Ware on 30 January 1965 at St Stephens Church, Macquarie Street, Sydney.[11] The marriage was short-lived. She has one daughter from the marriage, who has a son. They all live in
Noosa on the
Sunshine Coast in
Queensland. This move north from
Sydney to a warmer, subtropical climate was due to the fact Fraser suffers from severe
asthma.[12][13]
In 1997, Fraser told the
ABC: "I mean I wish I could be as outspoken, I suppose, as
Pauline Hanson and say, 'look, I'm sick and tired of the immigrants that are coming into my country.'" Fraser also stated her interest in joining Hanson's
One Nation Party.[15]
In 2015, during an interview on the
Today program, Fraser was asked about recent behaviour of
Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon and
Bernard Tomic’s comments about
Tennis Australia, which resulted in Tomic being removed from the
Davis Cup team. Fraser said, "They should be setting a better example for the younger generation of this country ... If they don’t like it, go back to where their fathers or their parents came from". (Kyrgios is of
Malay and
Greek ancestry, while Tomic is of
Croat extraction.) Kyrgios responded by describing her as a "blatant racist", and Fraser's comments were criticised by Australia’s
Race Discrimination CommissionerTim Soutphommasane.[16][17][18][19] Fraser "unreservedly" apologised for her comments.[16]
In popular culture
In 1979, a movie called Dawn! was made about Fraser's life and career. It starred Bronwyn Mackay-Payne as Fraser.
Fraser was played by
Melissa Thomas in the 2003 film Swimming Upstream. Fraser herself is credited in the film as Dawn Fraser's coach.
On 1 September 2015, Dawn Fraser featured on Season 7, Episode 5, of the
SBS genealogy television series
Who Do You Think You Are?, which traced her heritage back to South America.
^Fraser, Dawn (15 April 2007).
"Dawn Fraser: still kicking". Sunday Profile www.abc.net.a (Interview). Interviewed by Attard, Monica. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from
the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
^Hardy, Karen (15 December 2013).
"Dawn Fraser still smiling". The Sydney Morining Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 21 December 2014.