Amanda Fraser

{{Infobox sportsperson|

| name = Amanda Fraser

| image = 150600 - Amanda Fraser - 3a - 2000 Sydney media guide scan.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = 2000 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Fraser

| fullname = Amanda Fraser

| nicknames =

| nationality = {{AUS}}

| club =

| collegeteam =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|11|10|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Emerald, Queensland

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = 177cm

| weight = 70kg

| medaltemplates=

{{MedalCount

|Paralympic Games|0|2|2

|IPC Swimming World Championships|0|1|1

|IPC Athletics World Championships|1|1|0

|Total|1|4|3

}}

{{MedalSilver|1998 Christchurch|Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Open}}

{{MedalBronze|1998 Christchurch|Women's 200 m Individual Medley SM7}}

}}

Amanda Fraser (born 10 November 1981 in Emerald, Queensland) is an Australian Paralympic athlete and swimmer. She has cerebral palsy and competes in the F37 category for the physically impaired. Competing in the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Summer Paralympics, she won two silver and two bronze medals, and in the 2006 World Championships, she won a gold and a silver medal. In the 2006 championships, she set a world record for discus in her classification, and was named 2006 Telstra Female AWD Athlete of the Year by Athletics Australia.{{cite web|url=http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2006/ascmedia/20060806.asp |title=Francis and Fraser – 2006 Telstra AWD Athletes of the Year |date=7 June 2006 |publisher=Australian Sports Commission |access-date=28 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006141415/http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2006/ascmedia/20060806.asp |archive-date=6 October 2011 }} Fraser now works as a personal trainer, working with people unfamiliar to a gym environment, especially women. She advocates for women empowerment and aims to help women develop their mental and physical strength.{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-05/olympians-where-are-they-now/7686534|title=Aussie Olympians – where are they now?|date=2016-08-05|work=ABC News|access-date=2017-08-04|language=en-AU}}

Career

File:211000 - Swimming 200m medley SM7 Amanda Fraser action 2 - 3b - 2000 Sydney event photo.jpg

File:141100 - Swimming 4 x 100m freestyle 34pts Gemma Dashwood Amanda Fraser Melissa Carlton Priya Cooper bronze medals - 3b - 2000 Sydney medal photo.jpg

Fraser was born with spastic hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy where one side of the body is affected.{{cite news|title=Fraser's No Fish Out of Water|date=6 July 2004|newspaper=The Canberra Times}} At the age of 12, she competed in the Queensland School Sports Athletics Championships and won three gold medals.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org.au/team/amanda-fraser |title=Amanda Fraser- APC Corporate |publisher=Australian Paralympic Committee |access-date=28 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302230301/https://www.paralympic.org.au/team/amanda-fraser |archive-date= 2 March 2011 }} She later moved on to swimming, and was selected to complete in the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, where she won bronze medals in the 4×100 m Freestyle 34-point relay and the S7 50 m Freestyle.

In 2001, she returned to athletics, and qualified for the 2004 Summer Paralympics with a world-record discus throw of 27.95 m at the national championships. At the Paralympics, she competed in the 100 m, shot-put, and discus events, winning a silver medal in the F37 discus classification, Australia's first medal in athletics at the event.{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/20/1095651251611.html|title=Brooks true to his golden word|last=Halloran|first=Jessica|date=21 September 2004|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=28 July 2011}}

She competed in the 2006 International Paralympic Committee World Championships, where she broke the F37 discus world record with a throw of 29.93 metres, winning the gold medal at the event. Following this achievement, she was named the 2006 Telstra Female Athlete with a Disability of the Year by Athletics Australia.

At the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Fraser was initially awarded the bronze medal for the discus in the combined F37-38 event; however, she was given the silver medal when British athlete Rebecca Chin was disqualified on the basis that she was ineligible to compete in the cerebral palsy category.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-09-15/brit-stripped-after-aussie-refuses-to-shake-hands/510508|title=Brit stripped after Aussie refuses to shake hands|date=15 September 2008|work=ABC News|agency=Agence France-Presse|access-date=28 July 2011}} It was initially reported by ABC News that Fraser refused to shake Chin's hand after the event, however this was later corrected by The Australian when it was found that it was not Fraser who refused to shake hands, but British athlete Beverly Jones.{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/kurt-needs-endurance-for-marathon/story-e6frg7mo-1111117502267|title=Kurt Fearnley needs endurance just to reach start of marathon|last=McDonald|first=Margie|date=17 September 2008|work=The Australian|access-date=28 July 2011}} She was an Australian Institute of Sport athletics scholarship holder from 2002 to 2008.{{cite web|title=AIS Track and Field Achievements |url=http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/sports/athletics/achievements |work=Australian Sports Commission Website |publisher=Australian Sports Commission |access-date=8 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321192641/http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/sports/athletics/achievements |archive-date=21 March 2012 }}

References

External links

{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302230301/https://www.paralympic.org.au/team/amanda-fraser |date=2 March 2011 |title=Amanda Fraser at the Australian Paralympic Committee}}
[http://athletics.possumbility.com/athletes/athlete6488.htm Amanda Fraser] at Australian Athletics Historical Results ([https://web.archive.org/web/20131006090910/http://www.athletics.com.au/history/athletes/athlete6488.htm archive])
{{IPC athlete|id=amanda-fraser|old_id=614057}}
{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505091857/https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/australia/amanda-fraser-231700|title=Amanda Fraser at World Athletics}}

Category:Female Paralympic swimmers for Australia

Category:Paralympic athletes for Australia

Category:Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Category:Paralympic silver medalists for Australia

Category:Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia

Category:Cerebral Palsy category Paralympic competitors

Category:Track and field athletes with cerebral palsy

Category:Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic track and field athletes

Category:Australian female discus throwers

Category:Australian female shot putters