The four-time Olympian – now Equality, Diversity & Engagement Lead at UK Athletics – tells Euan Crumley about the role her favourite sport has played in her life
Donna Fraser has spent her life immersed in athletics. A 400m European junior champion in 1991 with a string of subsequent global medals to her name, she represented Great Britain at four Olympics and came perilously close to the podium as she finished fourth in the 400m final which was famously won by Cathy Freeman in Sydney 21 years ago.
Now Equality, Diversity and Engagement Lead at UK Athletics, the 48-year-old was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s honours list and admits that lessons learned on the track have helped her across her wider life.
“If I was to say everything it would take all day,” she laughs, when asked about the ways in which athletics has been of benefit to her. “The sport has given me so much.
“It has given me confidence and I think that’s number one because, when I started running at age eight, I was extremely shy. I had friends but I wasn’t as outgoing as I am now.
“Confidence, self-belief, that drive, determination, ambition – the list goes on forever.
“I look back now to who I was as a youngster to who I am now and, definitely, I put it down to sport. This is also true for things off the track.”
Fraser was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 36 and the athlete mindset proved to be extremely helpful during that period.
“Going through the breast cancer journey that I had, I always say that if hadn’t had that athlete mindset of being positive, staying focused on the next thing, I don’t think I would have got through that journey as well as I did,” she says.
“That whole mental state is a huge thing for any athlete competing. You can be as fit as a fiddle but that mental state plays a huge role in your performance.
“This last 12 months or so has been a nightmare for everyone in so many different ways. I often think ‘how would it be if I was an athlete now? How would I have coped?’ and the answer is I don’t know because we’ve never seen anything like this.
“It really does boil down to your mental resilience but also your support network, which is so, so important.”
And have there been any more athletic skills which has crossed over?
“It is the drive. As an athlete you get up every day with a focus and you set goals. It’s pretty much the same in my daily role,’ she adds.
“As an athlete I was trying to impact my performance whereas my job now is to have a positive impact with others that I work with and my sport. It is a different focus but the same kind of mindset – trying to get things done and not dwell.
“As an athlete you can’t dwell on bad performances, you’ve got to move on. What can you do differently to make things better? It’s definitely the same approach that I have every day.
“My nickname in the office is the Tasmanian Devil. I’m a bit of a whirlwind and I try to bring people with me.
“It probably does come from the soft skills I learned as an athlete from a very young age – that team element, bringing people together and being part of a team to make things work.
“I’ve been in many relay teams and that’s definitely something I loved being a part of.”
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