Commonwealth gold was in his grasp for 10 minutes

He was on the verge of a memorable triumph after equalling the Games’ record for the hammer event and taking first place with a throw of 62.9 metres.

Fraser’s dreams turned to silver, however, when fellow Englishman Howard Payne hurled the ball-and-chain almost five metres further.

Payne snatched the Games record and, more importantly, the gold.

“Standing on the podium was an amazing feeling because England won all three medals in the hammer,” recalled Fraser, who lives in How Caple, Herefordshire.

“For a brief time I also held the Commonwealth Games record for the hammer throw as I equalled the previous record with my attempt. Ten minutes later it was beaten.”

That was almost 40 years ago at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

It attracted almost 1,750 athletes and officials from 42 nations - and metric units were used at the event for the first time.

Queen Elizabeth II attended the Games for the first time as head of the Commonwealth.

England topped the medals’ table with 84 medals overall - just two more than second-placed Australia.

Athletics was still an amateur sport and Fraser, himself, was surprised about his unlikely rise to public attention.

“I was slightly surprised to win the silver medal because most people said I wouldn’t win anything because of my size. I only weighed 12-and-a-half stone. The next lightest competitor was 17-and-a-half stone.”

“I wasn’t particularly good at any sports until I was 13 and I went to a new school,” he said.

“We were introduced to a lot of new sports and I started to show some promise in these.

“Six of us started learning the hammer, but soon I was the only one left. The teacher was learning the event as I was, and we both got pretty good at it.

“I managed to have success in school sports and began competing at higher levels. I went to the British Championships and in my first year I had three no throws. I trained really hard after that and the next year won silver, followed by gold the next.”

Fraser picked up a back injury after which he retired from international athletics in 1974.

“I went to hospital and was on traction for five weeks. I tried many different treatments but none were particularly great,” he said.

Fraser then met a PE teacher - and it proved a life-changing experience.

“She introduced me to McTimoney chiropractory and I was very impressed with what it did for me,” he said.

“I thought that if she could do it, then I could do it. After five years of studying, I made it.”

Fraser began practising as a chiropractor in the area nine years ago, returning to Herefordshire after being previously based at RAF Credenhill where he was a Physical Education Officer. He still holds the RAF hammer record of 63.94 metres which was set in 1972.

“If I hadn’t suffered an injury myself I wouldn’t have found out about chiropractory,” he said.

“Now I get to help people who had similar problems to continue with their sports.”

Fraser remains very proud of his sporting achievement on that Edinburgh sports field almost four decades ago.

“It is a privilege to compete for England at anything but to compete in the Commonwealth Games was a wonderful experience,” he said. “I had taken part in the World Student Games a few years before, but it was nothing like competing on a big stage like that.”