Norma Wilson CROOKER-FLEMING

Norma Croker’s (later Fleming) athletics career lasted only a few years. Educated at the Brisbane State High School, she had little formal sprint training. Despite that, Croker, who worked as a teacher in Nindooinbah school near Beaudesert, Queensland, qualified for the Australian 1956 Olympic team by finishing third in the 220 yds and fourth in the 100 yds at the 1956 Australian Championships. At the Olympics, Croker finished fourth in the 200 and then ran the second leg on the 4x100 relay team that won a gold medal and set two world records, clocking 44.9 in the heats and 44.5 in the final.

After the Olympics, Croker got married and gave birth to the first of her four children, but returned to athletics in 1960. Now as Mrs. Fleming, Croker was second in the long jump, third in 220 yds, and sixth in the 100 yds at the Australian Championships, as she was selected to her second Olympics team. At Roma, Croker was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 metres, finished 15th in the long jump, and was a member of the Australian 4x100 m relay team that was disqualified in their first round heat.