Dawn Fraser 1963
by David Moore (b. 1929)
gelatin silver photograph
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1998

Dawn Fraser AO MBE (b. 1937) left school at 13 to work in a dress factory. She spent her spare time swimming at the Balmain Baths. In 1953 she was noticed there by swimming coach Harry Gallagher, who found her swimming style - and manners - ‘rough’, but considered her so promising that he offered to train her for free. Three years later she was swimming at the Melbourne Olympics, winning the 100m freestyle in world record time. She won that event again in Rome in 1960 and in Tokyo in 1964, and remains the only swimmer to have won the same event in three consecutive Olympic games. She might have gone on to win the race again, but for a competition ban of 10 years imposed after she was arrested for souveniring an Olympic flag. David Moore took this photograph of Fraser for Sports Illustrated. She is shown at a Melbourne pool during training for the Tokyo Olympics.