DAWN FRASER
Dawn Fraser grew up in the suburb of Balmain, a dockside industrial suburb in Sydney. She was the youngest of eight children, and suffered from anaemia, asthma and other chest complications. She learnt to swim at the age of five and two years later, Dawn Fraser swam for a professional body. Around 1950, Fraser joined the Drummoyne Women’s Amateur Swimming Club, where she caused a commotion by beating the brilliant young swimmer, Lorraine Crapp, in a 55-yard event.
She left school at 14, but preferred to live it up with late night parties, drinking and cigarettes. Harry Gallagher, a young swim coach, worked on her at every opportunity and finally, when she turned 17, she agreed to start training seriously. This meant moving
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