Donna Fraser facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Donna Fraser

Donna Fraser competing in a UK Women's League match at Birmingham
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Women's athletics
World Championships
Bronze	2005 Helsinki	4x400 m relay
Bronze	2007 Osaka	4x400 m relay
Commonwealth Games
Bronze	1998 Kuala Lumpur	400 m
Bronze	1998 Kuala Lumpur	4x100 m relay
European Championships
Bronze	1998 Budapest	4x400 m relay
European Indoor Championships
Silver	2009 Torino	4x400 m relay
Bronze	2005 Madrid	4x400 m relay
World Junior Championships
Silver	1990 Plovdiv	4x100 m relay
European Junior Championships
Gold	1991 Thessaloniki	400 m
Silver	1991 Thessaloniki	4x100 m relay

Donna Karen Fraser OBE (born 7 November 1972) in Thornton Heath, Croydon is an English former athlete, who mainly competed in the 200 and 400 m.

Career

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) 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). However, she didn't improve until 1996, when she began to concentrate on the 400 m seriously and qualified for British teams in the major outdoor championships between 1996 and 1999. However, it was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics that she finally realized her potential, shaving nearly a second off her personal best to finish fourth with a time of 49.79 seconds. This achievement was largely attributed to her training alongside Olympic champion Cathy Freeman that season.

An individual finalist in 1998 at the European Championships and Commonwealth Games (where she took a bronze medal), Fraser has also played an integral part of Britain's 4 x 400 m relay team, taking medals at the 1998 European Championships and Commonwealth Games, and 2005 World Championships. She also won the BBC London Athlete of the Year Award for 2005. But her career after 2000 stalled due to a catalogue of injuries (including a torn achilles tendon).

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.

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. However, she has continued to race for the Croydon Harriers, an athletics club based at the Croydon Sports Arena.

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.

Fraser currently works 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.

Major achievements

Representing  Great Britain and  England

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
1990	World Junior Championships	Plovdiv, Bulgaria	13th (sf)	200 m	24.19 (wind: +0.5 m/s)
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	44.16
1991	European Junior Championships	Thessaloniki, Greece	1st	400 m	53.54
			2nd	4 x 100 m relay	44.57
1998	European Championships	Budapest, Hungary	6th	400 m	51.54
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:25.66
	Commonwealth Games	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	3rd	400 m	51.01
			3rd	4 x 100 m relay	3:29.28
2000	Olympics	Sydney, Australia	4th	400 m	49.79
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:29.81
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:24.44
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:25.451
2009	European Indoor Championships	Turin, Italy	2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:30.42

¹Time from the heats; Fraser was replaced in the final.

See also

In Spanish: Donna Fraser para niños