Dawn Fraser says swimming abuse claims have shamed Australia
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Version 0 of 1. Olympian Dawn Fraser says she is not proud to be Australian as she watches the royal commission into child sexual abuse allegations investigate the sport for which she is so famous. "I've made mistakes in my life but it was never involving young children," the former swimming champion told Fairfax Radio Network on Wednesday morning. "Thank goodness this royal commission has taken place," she said. The commission is examining how Swimming Australia and the Queensland Academy of Sport dealt with allegations of child sex abuse against Scott Volkers in 2002. The charges were dropped in 2003. But Fraser, 76, a four-time gold medallist, says Volkers should never be able to coach or work with children anywhere in Australia, or the world again. He is now coaching in Brazil, trying to get a blue card in Queensland, and reportedly trying to bring a young swimmer back to Australia, said Fraser. Fraser said her coach of 15 years when she was a teenager would massage her shoulders and send her to the sauna to have a proper massage with a professional. But she said she had never experienced from a masseur anything along the lines of the allegations the commission is considering. Four women made seven allegations against Volkers in 2002, accusing him of sexually abusing them when they were teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s. |