 Dawn Fraser in May 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nickname | "Dawny" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1937-09-04)4 September 1937 (age 88) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 67 kg (148 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theNew South Wales Parliament forBalmain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 19 March 1988 – 25 May 1991 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Peter Crawford | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | District abolished | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle,butterfly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Dawn FraserAC MBE (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle championswimmer, eight-time olympic medallist, a 15-year world record holder in the 100-metre freestyle, and former politician. Controversial, yet the winner of countless honours, she has enjoyed national prominence and sparked national pride in Australia. 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]
Fraser was born in the Sydney suburb ofBalmain, New South Wales, in 1937 into a poor working-class family, the youngest of eight children.[2] Her father, Kenneth Fraser, was fromEmbo, Scotland.[3] She was spotted at the early age of 14 by Sydney coach Harry Gallagher swimming at the local harbourside baths.
As a highlight of her swimming career, Fraser held 39 records and won eight Olympic medals for Australia, including four gold. Adding to her popularity in her native country and the British Commonwealth, she captured sixCommonwealth Games gold medals. She dominated the high profile 100 metres freestyle event, holding the record for 15 years from 1 December 1956 to 8 January 1972.[4]
She is the first of only four swimmers in Olympic history (HungarianKrisztina Egerszegi and AmericansMichael Phelps andKatie Ledecky being the three others) to have won individual gold medals for the same event at three successive Olympics(100 metres freestyle – 1956, 1960, 1964).[4]
In October 1962, she became the first woman to swim the 100 metres freestyle in less than one minute setting the record of 59.9, a feat that elevated her to national prominence and made her a hero in Australia where swimming was a popular sport.[5][6][4] It was not until 1972, eight years after Fraser retired, that her 100 m record of 58.9 secs was broken.[7]
Several weeks before the1964 Olympics, Fraser was injured in a car crash that injured a vertebra and resulted in the death of her mother Rose. Her sister and a friend were also travelling in Fraser's car during the accident, but survived.[8] This was a fresh tragedy for Fraser and her family following her older brother's death from leukemia in 1950, and her father's death from cancer in 1960.
During the1964 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 outsideEmperor Hirohito's palace, theKōkyo. She was arrested but released without charge. In the end she was given the flag as a souvenir.[9]
Fraser later denied having swum the moat to steal the flag, tellingThe 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."[10] The Australian Amateur Swimming Association banned Fraser from competitive swimming for 10 years.[11]
Fraser became apublican at theRiverview Hotel, Balmain, and took up swim coaching.
In 1988, Fraser was elected as anindependent to theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly for theseat of Balmain. The Balmain electorate was abolished in 1991, and after failing to win the new seat ofPort Jackson, she retired from politics.[1][12]
Fraser married Gary Ware on 30 January 1965 at St Stephen’s Church, Macquarie Street, Sydney.[13] The marriage was short-lived. She has one daughter from the marriage, who has a son. She and her family live inNoosa on theSunshine Coast inQueensland. This move north fromSydney to the warmer, subtropical climate of Noosa was intended to reduce the breathing problems caused by Fraser'sasthma, as the warmer air and increased vitamin D from sunlight are beneficial for the condition.[14][15]
Fraser is the great-aunt of Canadian soccer playerDanielle Steer.[16]
In 1997, Fraser told theABC: "I mean I wish I could be as outspoken, I suppose, asPauline 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'sOne Nation Party.[17]
In 2015, during an interview on theToday program, Fraser was asked about recent behaviour ofNick Kyrgios at Wimbledon andBernard Tomic’s comments aboutTennis Australia, which resulted in Tomic being removed from theDavis 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 ofMalay andGreek ancestry, while Tomic is ofCroat extraction.) Kyrgios responded by describing her as a "blatant racist", and Fraser's comments were criticised by Australia’sRace Discrimination CommissionerTim Soutphommasane.[18][19][20][21] Fraser "unreservedly" apologised for her comments.[18]
In 1979, a movie calledDawn! was made about Fraser's life and career. It starred Bronwyn Mackay-Payne as Fraser.
Fraser was played byMelissa Thomas in the 2003 filmSwimming 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 theSBS genealogy television seriesWho Do You Think You Are?, which traced her heritage back to South America.
Lauded as an Australian hero, Fraser was named theAustralian of the Year in 1964,[22] was inducted into theInternational Swimming Hall of Fame in 1965,[23] was made aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) using her married name Dawn Ware in 1967,[24] and was appointed anOfficer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1998.[25] She was named Australian Female Athlete of the Century by theSport Australia Hall of Fame,[26] who had inducted her as their first female member in 1985.[27] In 1999 theInternational Olympic Committee named her the World's Greatest Living Female Water Sports Champion.[28] On 14 July 2000, Fraser was awarded theAustralian Sports Medal for "outstanding contribution as a swimming competitor".[29][28]
She was one of the bearers of theOlympic Torch at theopening ceremony of the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, as one of the bearers for the final segment, before the lighting of theOlympic Flame.
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TheAustralian Sport Awards includes an award named in honour of and presented by Fraser. The harbourside baths in Balmain where she swam were named theDawn Fraser Swimming Pool in her honour in 1964,[30] and in 1992, theState Transit Authority named aRiverCat ferry after Fraser.
She was inducted onto theVictorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.[31]
As part of the2018 Queen's Birthday Honours she was advanced to aCompanion of the Order of Australia (AC).[32]
In 2022, she was an inaugural inductee of theSwimming Australia Hall of Fame.[33]
| Event | Time | Place | |
| 1956 Summer Olympics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 100m Freestyle | 1:02.0 | Gold | WR |
| 400m Freestyle | 5:02.5 | Silver | |
| 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay | 4:17.1 | Gold | WR |
| 1960 Summer Olympics | |||
| 100m Freestyle | 1:01.2 | Gold | OR |
| 400m Freestyle | 4:58.5 | 5th | |
| 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay | 4:11.3 | Silver | |
| 4 × 100 m Medley Relay | 4:45.9 | Silver | |
| 1964 Summer Olympics | |||
| 100m Freestyle | 59.5 | Gold | OR |
| 400m Freestyle | 4:47.6 | 4th | |
| 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay | 4:06.9 | Silver | |
| 4 × 100 m Medley Relay | 4:52.3 | 9th | |
| New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||
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| Preceded by | Member forBalmain 1988–1991 | District abolished |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by | Women's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 21 February 1956 – 3 March 1956 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Women's 100 metre freestyle world record holder (long course) 25 August 1956 – 20 October 1956 | Succeeded by |
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