Dawn Fraser, the legendary Australian swimmer, has opened up about the serious fall that landed her in hospital in December last year.
The 87-year-old revealed that doctors warned her she was unlikely to survive the surgery she needed as a result of the fall.
Thankfully, she did survive but that wasn’t the end of her health issues.
Dawn’s heart stopped – without warning – just a few weeks later.
What has happened to Dawn Fraser?
To backtrack slightly, on December 4, 2024, Dawn fell at her Queensland home and was immediately admitted to intensive care.
Dawn broke four ribs and fractured her hip, and, as a result, had to undergo an emergency hip replacement on December 5, 2024.
Reflecting upon that day, Dawn recently told 10 News First, “When the anaesthetist came in, he said that I could die … And that was the frightening part, the fact that I might die under anaesthetic, and I didn’t want to die that way.”
The Olympian then shared that the last words she uttered before the surgery were, “I’m going to fight.”
And fight she did; by December 10, 2024, Dawn was out of intensive care, and she was discharged from hospital on December 14.
However, a few weeks later, Dawn – while at her local surf club – suffered a cardiac episode.
“I was at the meeting at the surf club, and we’d finished, and I went downstairs to get a lift home … unfortunately, I started to feel very faint, and I fainted. I was unconscious for five to seven seconds, and I vomited everywhere, and I just didn’t understand what had gone wrong,” Dawn recalled.
“The ambulance took me to Noosa Hospital … they said that my heart had stopped for five seconds, and I had a very low heart rate. The doctor came in and said, ‘I’m putting a pacemaker in,’ because we’d had a few stoppages of the heart,” she continued.
“I’ve had the pacemaker in there for eight weeks … and he [the doctor] saved my life.”
Dawn is now prioritising her health above all else.
“Some days I feel 87. Other days, I don’t … I lost a lot of strength and weight, but I’m fighting to get it back,” she said.
“This has been the biggest challenge I’ve ever had to face, absolutely. It’s a challenge that I’ve never thought I’d have to face. But now it’s there in front of me. Winning the gold medals was much easier. [But] I feel so lucky I survived.”
As for the future, Dawn just hopes she makes it 2032 so she can attend the Brisbane Olympics.
“I’d be 95 then. My sisters and brothers all lived past 90. I can’t give in.”
Why is Dawn Fraser significant?
Dawn has had an illustrious career, to say the least.
For starters, she won gold at three consecutive Olympics: Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, and Tokyo 1964.
Dawn remains one of only three swimmers to achieve this feat.
She also set 23 individual world records during her career, including swimming the 100-metre freestyle in 58.9 seconds.
Achieved in 1964, Dawn was the first woman to swim the event in under a minute.
Of course, Dawn’s career wasn’t without controversy.
In one of the most infamous episodes in Australian sporting history, the Australian Swimming Union (ASU) imposed a 10-year suspension on Fraser after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Thus, effectively ending her competitive swimming career at the age of 27.
The suspension stemmed from “misconduct” during the Games. Dawn marched in the opening ceremony against the ASU’s wishes, wore an older swimming costume in competition (she found it more comfortable than the sponsor-supplied one), and allegedly took an Olympic flag from outside the Emperor’s Palace in Tokyo.
Dawn’s suspension was met with public outcry and, despite her suspension, remained a beloved Australian hero.
Following her swimming career, Dawn was named the Australian of the Year. She was also inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), and appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
And in recent years, Dawn was advanced to a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2018, and was the inaugural inductee of the Swimming Australia Hall of Fame in 2022.
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