On Dale’s days off from training, she would go up to her uncle’s farm where she would chop down gum trees to develop upper body strength.
It would be reasonable to assume it was the Harry Gallagher and Dawn Fraser effect, but when Dale Krieg was 14, the young South Australian was considered the fastest junior in Australia.
Soon after Gallagher and Fraser arrived in SA in 1955, Dale joined the new coach’s squad and in 1958, she broke the national junior 220 yards record which had belonged to Olympic gold medallist, Faith Leach from Victoria.
The anticipation and expectation for the SA youngster was high.
In that same year, and still only 15, she won two national senior titles in Melbourne and was then selected in the Australian Swim team for the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
Folklore says that Dale and Dawn Fraser developed a friendship, and on their free days from training leading up to the Olympics, they would go to Gawler where Dale’s uncle had a farm. The pair would chop down gum trees to develop their upper body strength.
A specialist in freestyle and butterfly, Dale competed against the powerful trio of Dawn Fraser, Ilsa Konrads and Lorraine Crapp for a position in the individual and relay events.
She retired after the Rome Olympics, and soon after, the engagement between Ms Krieg and Olympic silver medalist from the Rome Olympics, Geoff Shipton, was announced.
Dale Krieg is an inductee in Swimming SA’s Hall of Fame.
