Alva Colquhoun

{{Short description|Australian swimmer (born 1942)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}}

{{Infobox swimmer

| name = Alva Colquhoun

| image =

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| full_name = Alva Merlin Colquhoun

| nicknames =

| national_team = {{AUS}}

| strokes = Freestyle

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|2|28|df=y}}

| birth_place = Brisbane, Queensland

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| height = {{convert|1.69|m|ftin|abbr=on}}

| weight = {{convert|61|kg|lb|abbr=on}}

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport | Women's swimming}}

{{MedalCountry | Australia}}

{{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games}}

{{MedalSilver | 1960 Rome | 4×100 m freestyle}}

{{Medal|Comp|British Empire and Commonwealth Games}}

{{Medal|Gold | 1958 Cardiff | 4x110 yd freestyle relay}}

{{Medal|Bronze | 1958 Cardiff | 110 yd freestyle}}

}}

Alva Merlin Colquhoun (married name Wyatt,{{cite web |url=https://unitingagewell.org/news-and-media/news/our-super-star-swimmer |title=Our super-star swimmer |website=UnitingAgeWell.org |access-date=8 June 2022 |quote=Alva Wyatt ... forever remembered in the halls of sporting fame as swimming legend Alva Merlin Colquhoun}} born 28 February 1942) is an Australian former freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1950s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/co/alva-colquhoun-1.html |title=Alva Colquhoun |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203012251/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/co/alva-colquhoun-1.html |archive-date=2016-12-03 |quote=Full name: Alva Merlin Colquhoun}} She is perhaps best known for resolving a dispute at a team meeting during the Rome Olympics.

Making her first appearance for Australia at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, Colquhuon combined with Dawn Fraser, Lorraine Crapp and Sandra Morgan to win the 110-yard freestyle. In the 110-yard freestyle, she was beaten into third place by her teammates Fraser and Crapp. In Rome, she anchored the team of Fraser, Crapp and Ilsa Konrads to a silver medal, trailing the American team by 2.4 seconds.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X6YTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GbADAAAAIBAJ&pg=7252%2C4096244 Olympic Swimmer has Eastern Air, The Age, (Friday, 23 September 1960), p. 15.] However, she was in the spotlight when during a team meeting, officials had ordered Fraser to swim the butterfly leg in the 4×100-metre medley relay preliminaries in place of the first-choice butterfly swimmer Jan Andrew, who was ordered to rest ahead of her individual event. Fraser refused, hitting Andrew with a pillow. It was only when Colquhuon volunteered that the dispute was resolved. However, she was replaced by Andrew in the final.

She was married with two children and resided in Baddaginnie, Victoria.