Paula Newby-Fraser

Paula Newby-Fraser is an Ironman triathlete and duathlete, born on 2 June 1962 in Harare. She was born in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and raised in South Africa, where she was a nationally ranked swimmer as a child. She won the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii eight times, in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991 to 1994 and 1996, and the streak earned her the nickname The Queen of Kona. Over twelve years she won 21 of the 26 Ironman races she entered, and she won 24 Ironman races overall between 1986 and 2002. She also raced long distance duathlons, including the 1990 World Duathlon Championships in Palm Springs, and she later took up ultramarathons, winning the Ridgecrest High Desert 50k in 1997 with a course record of 4 hours 6 minutes.