Olympics Shenanigans: Before Ryan Lochte, There was Dawn Fraser
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The world has reacted with a mixture of frustration and glee at the befuddling, deceitful, and criminal actions of a gang of United States swimmers, led by Ryan Lochte. Their inebriated vandalism of a Brazilian gas station and their less-than-half-baked alibi definitely put them in medal contention for the Drunken Post-Race Shenanigans category. Gold, however, might have to go to Australia’s Dawn Fraser.
Fraser’s story was a remarkable one. After being seriously injured in a car crash that claimed her mother’s life, she still managed to qualify for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. As if that wasn’t enough, the three-time gold medalist won a fourth gold in the 100m freestyle, becoming the first woman to break the one-minute mark in that event. It was a heart-warming triumph for one of Australia’s most popular athletes, but the fun hadn’t even started yet.
Finished with her races and granted leave from the Olympic Village to work on a film, Fraser found a new way to make headlines. After having a few drinks with the bronze medalist Aussie men’s hockey team, she and a few others jumped at the team doctor’s suggestion that they pick up a unique souvenir: an Olympic flag from outside Tokyo’s Imperial Palace.
Fraser helped “hoik” a friend onto her shoulders to get a few flags down from their poles. It went smoothly, but, the Imperial Palace being the Imperial Palace, eventually the police noticed.
What followed was the stuff of Olympic legend, which we assume unfolded to the tune of “Yakety Sax.”
The Aussies scattered at the sound of the police whistles. Still carrying the flag, Fraser hurt her ankle jumping into some nearby gardens. Knowing that her friends had been caught, she tried to play it cool and pretend she was just chilling there when the police found her on a bench. A panting, injured athlete sitting alone in the park after midnight with what looked like a flag falling out of her tracksuit was enough to raise their suspicion, however, and any pretense of innocence went out the window when the rope from the flagpole fell out of her pocket.