Alva Colquhuon is a former Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n freestyle and butterfly swimmer of the 1950s, who won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 1960 Rome Olympics

1960 Summer Olympics

The 1960 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held from August 25 to September 11, 1960 in Rome, Italy...

. However, she was unfortunately 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

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Cardiff, capital of Wales from 18–26 July 1958.Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games and 23 countries and dependencies won medals, including, for the first time, Singapore, Ghana, Kenya...

 in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, Colquhuon combined with Dawn Fraser

Dawn Fraser

Dawn Fraser AO, MBE is an Australian champion swimmer. She is one of only two swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times – in her case the 100 meters freestyle....

, Lorraine Crapp

Lorraine Crapp

Lorraine Crapp is a former Olympic swimming champion representing Australia. She competed in two Olympic Games — the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 1960 Summer Olympics. She won two Olympic gold medals in 1956...

 and Sandra Morgan

Sandra Morgan

Sandra Anne Morgan is a former Australian freestyle swimmer, who won gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At the age of 14 years and 6 months, she became the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal, a record that still stands...

 to win the 110 yd freestyle. In the 110yd 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

Ilsa Konrads was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won silver in the 4x100 m freestyle relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In her career, she set 12 individual world records, and after her swimming career ended, was the Australasian editor of Belle...

 to a silver medal, trailing the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by 2.4 s. However she was in the spotlight when during a team meeting, officials had ordered Fraser to swim the butterfly leg in the 4 × 100 m medley relay preliminaries in place of the first-choice butterfly swimmer Jan Andrew

Jan Andrew

Janice Andrew , known after marriage as Janice Thornett, was an Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1950s, who won a bronze medal in the 100 m butterfly and a silver medal in the 4 &ntimes;  m medley relay at the 1960 Rome Olympics...

, 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.