{{Short description|British sprinter (born 1972)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Use British English|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = Donna Fraser | image = Donna Fraser, 2011 (cropped).jpg | caption = Fraser competing in a UK Women's League match at Birmingham | nationality = British (English) | sport = Athletics | event = Sprints/400m | club = Croydon Harriers | birth_date = 7 November 1972 | birth_place = Thornton Heath, Croydon, England | death_date = | death_place = | height =180 cm | weight =64 kg | pb = | medaltemplates= {{MedalCountry|{{GBR2}}}} {{MedalSport | Athletics}} {{Medal|Competition|World Championships}} {{Medal|Bronze|2005 Helsinki|4x400 m relay}} {{Medal|Bronze|2007 Osaka|4x400 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|Commonwealth Games}} {{Medal|Bronze|1998 Kuala Lumpur|400 m}} {{Medal|Bronze|1998 Kuala Lumpur|4x100 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|European Championships}} {{Medal|Bronze|1998 Budapest|4x400 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|European Indoor Championships}} {{Medal|Silver|2009 Torino|4x400 m relay}} {{Medal|Bronze|2005 Madrid|4x400 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|World Junior Championships}} {{Medal|Silver|1990 Plovdiv|4x100 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|European Junior Championships}} {{Medal|Gold|1991 Thessaloniki|400 m}} {{Medal|Silver|1991 Thessaloniki|4x100 m relay}} }} '''Donna Karen Fraser''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} (born 7 November 1972) in Thornton Heath, Croydon is an English former athlete, who mainly competed in the 200 and 400 m.

== Biography == An exceptional junior, Fraser won six English Schools 200 m titles (as well as a silver medal for the 4 × 100 m at the 1990 World Junior Championships<ref name="cg-farewell">{{cite news|title=Farewell to fab Fraser|last=Moody|first=Fraser|date=2 September 2009|work=The Croydon Guardian (Printed edition)|pages=93}}</ref><ref name="cg-look-back">{{cite news|url=http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/search/4576658.Fraser_looks_back_on_career/|title=Croydon Harrier Fraser looks back on career|last=Moody|first=Graham|date=2 September 2009|work=Croydon Guardian|access-date=4 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325112950/http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/search/4576658.Fraser_looks_back_on_career/|archive-date=25 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>) before turning to the 400 m in 1991 and becoming European Junior Champion at the distance the same year (also gaining a silver medal for the 4 × 100 m).<ref name="cg-farewell"/><ref name="cg-look-back"/>

However, she didn't improve until 1996, when she began to concentrate on the 400 metres and in 1997 Fraser won the 1997 British Athletics Championships 400 metres title and in addition she finished second behind Jamaican Evadnie McKenzie in the 100 metres event at the 1997 AAA Championships.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002135/19970826/020/0020 |title=Athletics |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=26 August 1997 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 April 2025 }}</ref> By virtue of being the highest placed British athlete at the AAAs she was considered the British 100 metres champion as well.<ref name=Nuts>{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=1 April 2025}}</ref>

Fraser was an individual finalist and {{nowrap|4 × 400 m}} relay relay team bronze medallist at the European Championships and also won two bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://teamengland.org/commonwealth-games-history/kuala-lumpur-1998/athletes |title=Malaysia 1998 Team |website=Team England |access-date=1 April 2025 }}</ref>

However, it was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics that she finally realised her potential, after winning the AAA title,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000578/20000814/516/0027 |title=Athletics |work=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=14 August 2000 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref> she shaved nearly a second off her personal best to finish fourth in the Olympic final with a time of 49.79 seconds. This achievement was largely attributed to her training alongside Olympic champion Cathy Freeman that season.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/68653 |title=Biographical Information |website=Olympedia |access-date=1 April 2025}}</ref>

Her career after 2000 stalled due to a catalogue of injuries (including a torn achilles tendon<ref name="cg-farewell"/><ref name="cg-look-back"/>) but she returned to win the 400 metres title at the 2005 AAA Championships<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/waaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (women) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=1 April 2025 }}</ref> and win the BBC London ''Athlete of the Year Award'' for 2005.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/sportsawards2005_gallery.shtml?8 Donna Fraser - BBC LONDON Athlete of the Year 2005] BBC, accessed 7 November 2007</ref> At the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, Fraser went as part of the 4 × 400 m relay squad. Despite not running in the final, she received a bronze medal, as she competed in the heats on the second leg.{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In September 2009, she announced that she was going to leave athletics to return to working full-time at EDF Energy. Her final major race was the 400 m at the British Grand Prix at Gateshead, where she finished 7th with a time of 54.11 seconds.<ref name="cg-farewell"/><ref name="cg-look-back"/> However, she has continued to race for the Croydon Harriers, an athletics club based at the Croydon Sports Arena.<ref name="cg-farewell"/><ref name="cg-look-back"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.croydonharriers.com/News/305/Fraser-returns-to-lift-senior-Harriers.htm |title=Club News |access-date=2011-07-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001002018/http://www.croydonharriers.com/News/305/Fraser-returns-to-lift-senior-Harriers.htm |archive-date=1 October 2011}} : Retrieved 11 July 2011.</ref>

Fraser was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to equality, inclusion and diversity in the workplace.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63218|supp=y|page=N11|date=31 December 2020}}</ref> Fraser worked at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee as Head of Inclusion and Engagement. In 2022, she was named World Athletics' Woman of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-29 |title=Fraser wins Woman of the Year Award |url=https://www.worldathletics.org/awards/news/woman-of-the-year-2022-fraser |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=World Athletics}}</ref>

==Major achievements== {| {{AchievementTable|Event=yes}} |+Representing {{GBR2}} and {{ENG}} |- |rowspan=2|1990 |rowspan=2|World Junior Championships |rowspan=2|Plovdiv, Bulgaria |13th (sf) |200 m |24.19 <small>(wind: +0.5&nbsp;m/s)</small> |- |bgcolor=silver|2nd |4 × 100 m relay |44.16 |- |rowspan=2|1991 |rowspan=2|European Junior Championships |rowspan=2|Thessaloniki, Greece |bgcolor=gold|1st |400 m |53.54 |- |bgcolor=silver|2nd |{{nowrap|4 × 100 m}} relay |44.57 |- |rowspan=4|1998 |rowspan=2|European Championships |rowspan=2|Budapest, Hungary |6th |400 m |51.54 |- |bgcolor=cc9966|3rd |4 × 400 m relay |3:25.66 |- |rowspan=2|Commonwealth Games |rowspan=2|Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |bgcolor=cc9966|3rd |400 m |51.01 |- |bgcolor=cc9966|3rd |{{nowrap|4 × 100 m}} relay |3:29.28 |- |2000 |Olympics |Sydney, Australia |4th |400 m |49.79 |- |rowspan=2|2005 |European Indoor Championships |Madrid, Spain |bgcolor=cc9966|3rd |4 × 400 m relay |3:29.81 |- |World Championships |Helsinki, Finland |bgcolor=cc9966|3rd |4 × 400 m relay |3:24.44 |- |2007 |World Championships |Osaka, Japan |bgcolor=cc9966|3rd |4 × 400 m relay |3:25.45<sup>1</sup> |- |2009 |European Indoor Championships |Turin, Italy |bgcolor=silver|2nd |4 × 400 m relay |3:30.42 |} <sup>1</sup>Time from the heats; Fraser was replaced in the final.

{{s-start}} {{succession box | before= Katharine Merry | title = British Champion in 400m | years = 2000 | after = Lesley Owusu }} {{succession box | before= Christine Ohuruogu | title = British Champion in 400m | years = 2005 | after = Nicola Sanders }} {{s-end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{World Athletics}} * {{Team GB|5j5Wv14cg1Ndl6z33hrtLi}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20100204065032/http://www.olympics.org.uk/athletebio.aspx?at=1301 archive]) * {{Olympics.com|donna-fraser}} * {{Olympedia}}

{{Footer UK NC 400 Metres Women}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Donna}} Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:English women sprinters Category:British women sprinters Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain Category:Olympic women sprinters Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Category:Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Category:Black British sportswomen Category:World Athletics Championships medalists Category:European Athletics Championships medalists Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Croydon Category:Athletes from the London Borough of Croydon Category:21st-century English sportswomen Category:20th-century English sportswomen Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics