Lorraine Crapp
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| Olympic medal record | |||
Competitor for  Australia |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Women's swimming | |||
| Gold | 1956 Melbourne | 400 m freestyle | |
| Gold | 1956 Melbourne | 4x100 m freestyle relay | |
| Silver | 1956 Melbourne | 100 m freestyle | |
| Silver | 1960 Rome | 4x100 m freestyle relay | |
Lorraine Joyce Crapp (born October 17, 1938 in Sydney, New South Wales) is a former Olympics swimming champion from Australia. She competed in two Olympic Games — 1956 Summer Olympics and 1960 Summer Olympics.
Crapp was educated in Burwood at the MLC School. She had been a youthful protégé of Dawn Fraser's mentor Harry Gallagher, but at age sixteen she switched to the coaching of Frank Guthrie. Under his guidance, she set the first of 23 world records in January 1954, and later that year won the British Empire Games 110 and 440 yards titles. With Fraser, she set world records during the 1956 national championships, and both hit their best form during winter training with the Olympic squad in Townsville.
Coming into the Games the two of them shared the world 100 m record, and Crapp held six others over longer distances. In the Olympic 100 m final, Fraser beat Crapp in a tight finish, with both under world-record time. Faith Leech made it a 1-2-3 victory for Australia. In the only other individual women’s freestyle event, over 400 m, Crapp drew away from Fraser after two laps to win easily in Olympic record time. Fraser finished second.
Fraser, Faith Leech, Sandra Morgan and Crapp, swimming in that order, set a world record to win gold in the 4x100 m relay. That gave Crapp and Fraser each a 1956 haul of two gold medals and a silver. On the eve of her departure for the 1960 Rome Games, Crapp married doctor Bill Thurlow, a medical officer attached to the Australian team. She won a silver medal with the 4x100 m relay team, and retired afterwards.
Subsequent to her retirement, Crapp and her husband won first prize in one of the Sydney Opera House Lotteries.
Crapp was one of the eight flag-bearers of the Olympic Flag at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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[edit] References
- Andrews, Malcolm (2000). Australia at the Olympic Games.
- Howell, Max (1986). Aussie Gold.
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