Australian Olympic legend Dawn Fraser has spent her career breaking records and breaking down barriers for female athletes.
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She has shown that no matter who you are, or where you are from, you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.
It was a lesson passed on to students at Calrossy Anglican School in Tamworth on Friday, where the eight-time Olympic medallist [four gold and four silver from 1956 to 1964] was the guest at a special senior school assembly.
So what would Ms Fraser say is the secret to her success in sport and in life?
In a word: "determination".
"Determination was given to me by my family," she said.
"We have played sports since we were little kids. It was also the way I was brought up by my mum and dad.
"They were very strict with me and being the youngest of eight in the family, I couldn't get away with much."
"Determination was given to me by my family."
- Australian Olympic legend Dawn Fraser.
It was that mindset which propelled her through the many barriers that existed for women in sport at the time.
Even when she was told by the Australian Swimming Union that she would never represent Australia.
"I came from a working-class family; I was told I would never represent Australia, and it gave me the determination to follow my love for swimming and do the very best I could," she told the Leader.
"It is important to go out to schools in regional Australia, because sometimes the kids do not see people like myself.
"But the message I want to get across is that they can do anything they want in life."
A little bit about Dawn Fraser
In acknowledgement of a stellar swimming career, Dawn Fraser was named Female Athlete of the Century by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1999.
In that same year, the International Olympic Committee declared her the Greatest Living Female Water Sports Champion.
In 2022, she was an inaugural inductee of the Swimming Australia Hall of Fame.