Swimming legend Dawn Fraser says the creation of a Sport Australia Hall of Fame award in tribute to her remarkable career has made for “a great honour”.
When this year’s Sport Australia Hall of Fame celebration is broadcast on December 2, it will mark the inaugural presentation of The Dawn Award, in tribute to a career that yielded four Olympic gold medals across the 1950s and 1960s, among other brilliant achievements.
The honour, which can be awarded to a past or present individual, team or organisation, will be presented to “a courageous groundbreaker who has demonstrated achievement against the odds and challenged the status quo”.
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Fraser was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame with cricket royalty Sir Donald Bradman in 1985, before they were both elevated to ‘legend’ status in 1993.
Australian sport’s highest honour, The Don Award, was introduced in 1998, and Fraser now has a Sport Australia award of her own at the age of 84.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am,” Fraser told Wide World of Sports.
“It’s certainly a great honour that (Sport Australia chairman) John Bertrand’s bestowed upon me from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, and it’s something that I really appreciate the fact that I’m still alive to see this award. It doesn’t happen in some times and I’m extremely excited about it.
“It’s putting all together how a sportsperson can be courageous and a groundbreaker and challenge the status quo. And I think that puts my personality down on paper.”
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Fraser won eight Olympic medals – four gold and four silver – at the 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Games.
The Sydney golden girl was also the first woman to break the one-minute barrier in the 100m freestyle and, astoundingly, set 39 world records.
Her phenomenal career was recognised through two highly revered awards in 1999: Sport Australia’s Female Athlete of the Century and the International Olympic Committee’s Greatest Living Female Water Sports Champion.
As the criteria of The Dawn Award points to, Fraser carved out her exceptional career in the face of significant adversity.
She was the victim of two rapes and domestic abuse.
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And when Fraser defended her Olympic gold in the 100m freestyle for a second time in her triumph at the 1964 Tokyo Games, it came just weeks after her mother died in a car crash.
“I took the attitude that Mum was supposed to be going over because the people of Balmain had run some raffles around the hotel and got enough money to fly her over and accommodate her in Tokyo,” Fraser recalled.
“And when she wasn’t going to be there after that car accident I did it just for her.
“There was no one going to beat me; they all had to beat me, but I was going to be the first person there because I was doing it for my mother.”
But it wasn’t until almost 40 years after the car accident that Fraser, who was the driver of the vehicle, realised she was responsible for her mother’s death.
“It took me years and years and years to get over that accident because my elder brother told me that my mother had had a heart attack. And I lived with that for a number of years, until I went to the coroner’s court. The coroner said, ‘no, my mother was killed in the car accident’, and I was the driver of the car,” Fraser said.
“It took me many, many years to get over it, but being a strong person I got over it, and I just had to live with it for the rest of my life.
“Now I can talk about it because I’ve come through that part of knowing that I was the driver of the car that killed my mum.”
Twenty-five finalists were in the running for the inaugural The Dawn Award and Fraser knows who’s won.
“The person adds up to what we have asked: how courageous they were and how they were a groundbreaker in their sport, how brave they were to keep up their sport,” Fraser said.
“I’m sure the whole of Australia, when the person is announced on December 2, will be extremely proud that this person has won The Dawn Award. I know I am.
“I know who the winner is… and I know this particular person will be extremely overwhelmed.”
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