Alva Merlin Colquhoun (married name Wyatt, born 28 February 1942) is an Australian former freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1950s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome. She is perhaps best known for resolving a dispute at a team meeting during the Rome Olympics. Making her first appearance for Australia at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales, Colquhuon combined with

Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer and former politician. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle ...

, Lorraine Crapp and Sandra Morgan to win the 110-yard freestyle. In the 110-yard freestyle, she was beaten into third place by her teammates Fraser and Crapp. In Rome, she anchored the team of Fraser, Crapp and

Ilsa Konrads Ilsa Konrads ( lv, Ilze Konrade; born 29 March 1944) is an Australian former freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4×100-metre freestyle relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. In her career, she set 13 individual ...

to a silver medal, trailing the American team by 2.4 seconds. However, she was in the spotlight when during a team meeting, officials had ordered Fraser to swim the butterfly leg in the 4×100-metre medley relay preliminaries in place of the first-choice butterfly swimmer

Jan Andrew Janice Andrew (born 25 November 1943), also known by her married name Janice Thornett, is an Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1950s, who won a bronze medal in the 100-metre butterfly and a silver medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay at t ...

, who was ordered to rest ahead of her individual event. Fraser refused, hitting Andrew with a pillow. It was only when Colquhuon volunteered that the dispute was resolved. However, she was replaced by Andrew in the final. She was married with two children and resided in Baddaginnie, Victoria.

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* * * * 1942 births Living people Swimmers from Brisbane Australian female butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Australia Australian female freestyle swimmers Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games {{Australia-Olympic-medalist-stub

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