Brisbane, Australia — Former Australian swimming great and four-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Fraser was recovering in hospital on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, after falling and breaking her hip and breaking four ribs.
Mr Fraser, 87, had been recovering after the “scary” incident last week which sparked fears he had suffered internal bleeding.
Fraser, who was recovering from recent eye surgery, tripped over the edge of his newly renovated driveway and fell hard to the ground. She was taken to hospital after her ordeal, but repairing the damage to her hip was deemed too risky and she underwent total hip replacement surgery.
Her daughter Dawn-Lorraine Fraser told media on Wednesday that Fraser was “doing a lot better” but was “not out of the woods yet.”
“She is a typical mom. She was up and walking and, you know, she was walking too far, too fast, so she was told to slow down,” Dawn-Lorraine said. “She got a new hip, four broken ribs and a scar on her left arm.”
“I was scared… I thought we were going to lose her and the doctor said we would probably have to face that, but I couldn’t handle it. Because even though she was my mother, I always thought of her as invincible.”
Dawn-Lorraine said she received a call from the hospital the day of the surgery asking whether doctors would attempt to resuscitate her mother if the surgery did not go as planned.
“I told you, are you serious? Are you asking me this question? “Don’t you know my mother?” she said
Fraser is recognized as one of Australia’s greatest athletes, winning eight Olympic medals, including four golds in the 100m freestyle, in three Olympic Games between 1956 and 1964.
In 1956 she became the face of the Melbourne Games, winning her first gold medals in the 100m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay. She also broke 27 world records during her career and was named Australian of the Year in 1964.
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