In the autumn of her life, Dawn Lorraine Fraser penned her autobiography, ‘Dawn — One Hell of a Life’. How apt the title was! The Aussie was the original prima donna of Olympic swimming. With a career spanning three Games, she carved a niche for herself and for her country. Dawn Fraser’s stupendous show at the Olympics remained unmatched for well over two decades. Her feat of winning three gold medals in the same events (100m freestyle) in three suc cessive Olympics (1956, 1960 and 1964) and a career haul of eight Olympic medals — four gold and four silver — was stupendous.
Dawn took up swimming as a nine-year-old to overcome her asthmatic attacks. She was so good that she began beating boys of her age in local meets. Coach Harry Gallagher spotted her talent and took her under his wings.
Winning was a way with her and she was unstoppable in the age-group meets. In 1956, Dawn qualified for the Melbourne Games by breaking the meet record at the Australian National trials. The rest was history. Dawn, aged 18 then, won her first Olympic gold in 100m freestyle in 1:00.02 — a new record. She then won another gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay and a silver in the 400m freestyle.
Dawn did an encore at the Rome Olympics in 1960 when she won the 100m freestyle gold. She also picked up a silver medal each in the 4x100m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay. She crossed yet another milestone in 1962 when she became the first woman to go under one minute in her pet event, clocking 59.9 seconds, at the Commonwealth Games in Perth. Prior to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, tragedy struck Dawn when she was at the wheel of her car. Following an accident, her mother was killed on the spot while she survived with grievous injuries and had to be hospitalised for nine weeks. She, however, put the tragedy behind her and went on to win her third 100m freestyle Olympic gold. She also picked up a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Ironically, the Tokyo Games marked the end of her career. Her constant run-ins with the Australian Swimming Union flared up as a major showdown in Tokyo when she failed to wear the official swimsuit for the 100m freestyle heats. And later, her alleged ‘theft’ of a flag from Emperor Hirohito’s Palace saw her booked by the local police. This was the last straw for the ASU which banned her for 10 years in 1965 for ‘indiscipline’.
A grateful nation forgave Dawn later, naming her the ‘Australian of the Year’ in 1965. And in 1999, she was acknowledged as the ‘National Treasure’. In between, Dawn turned a politician, getting elected to the New South Wales Parliament in 1988. Dawn finally made peace with the swimming officialdom in 1996 and the Australian Olympic Committee named her the Ambassador of the Australian contingent for the 1996 Atlanta Games. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she was one of the torch bearers. The ultimate accolade for the stormy petrel of world swimming came in 2000 when the then president of IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, conferred upon her the title, ‘First Lady of the Olympics’.
Kalyan Ashok
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