VANCOUVER – Following a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer, UBC Thunderbirds alumna and Canadian Olympic rowing legend Kathleen Heddle passed away at her Vancouver home on January 11, 2021.
Beginning her legendary rowing career at UBC, Heddle went on to capture gold medals at the Pan Am Games, multiple World Championships, and, most notably, the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. With four Olympic medals to her credit, three of them gold, Heddle remains UBC's most decorated Olympian of all time.
Born in Trail, B.C. in 1965, Heddle and her family soon relocated to Vancouver where she was raised, eventually enrolling at UBC.
Insistent on becoming a student-athlete, Heddle was motivated to join the Thunderbirds women's volleyball program, without even a consideration of becoming a rower at the time. Starting in the fall of 1983, Heddle competed with the women's volleyball Junior Varsity team for two years while also serving as the team's manager.
Fate struck in the 1985-86 season when UBC rowing coach Drew Harrison spotted her, sizing her up as a possible candidate for the women's crew. Heddle agreed to this intriguing opportunity and quickly discovered she was much better suited to this, her new sport.
UBC Women's Rowing (Heddle fourth from right)
Heddle rowed for UBC's "Novice Squad" in 1985-86, then advanced to the Varsity team the following year learning from coaches Harrison, Walter Martindale and Nancy Wiggins. At this point she was already considered one of the four best Varsity rowers and was drawing the attention of Olympic coaches.
With UBC's Varsity crews in 1987, Kathleen's second year of rowing, success was quickly becoming a reality as she won gold in the Pairs at the 1987 Pan American games.
Heddle graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1990 and the following year would find herself winning gold at the World Championships – unexpected golds in both the women's Eights and Pairs at the 1991 world meet in Vienna. These victories, which Kathleen was part of, proved to be a breakthrough for Canadian rowing.
Her first Olympic gold medals came in 1992 in Barcelona where she took top spot on the podium in women's pairs as well as the eights.
World Championship titles came again in 1994 and 1995, and Heddle found herself on the Olympic podium two more times in Atlanta in 1996 where she won bronze in the quadruple sculls and gold in the double sculls. Achieved with long-time partner Marnie McBean, the 1996 gold immortalized the pair as the first Canadians to win three Olympic gold medals.
Following the 1996 Olympics and her subsequent retirement, Heddle was asked by UBC's Dave Thomson if she would be where she is today without the Blue & Gold of UBC. "Absolutely not," was her reply.
Along with McBean, Heddle was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, the same year she became a recipient of the Order of B.C.
An outstanding natural athlete, Heddle will forever be remembered as an equally outstanding person full of generosity, humility, and love. Her legacy at UBC as well as on the national and international stage will continue to inspire.
Heddle is survived by her husband, Mike, as well as her two children, Lyndsey and Mac.
