Indo Canadian News News That Matters
Kathleen Joan Heddle passed away, after battling long with cancer, at the age of 55 on Monday (Jan 14) at her home in Vancouver, British Columbia. She earned three Olympic gold medals in the sport of rowing for Canada in the 1990s and inspired a generation of athletes.
Kathleen was struggling with breast cancer and lymph node cancer for many years, and lately with brain cancer and melanoma. Her passing away was announced in a family statement issued by the Rowing Canada Aviron, the national regulatory body of rowing in Canada.
The Rowing Canada Aviron tweeted on Thursday (Jan 14) with two images of Ms. Kathleen Heddle and a link, “It is with great sadness that we share this news on behalf of the family of Kathleen Heddle: https://bit.ly/3oIEX5l”
In the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Kathleen Heddle and her rowing companion Marnie McBean won 2 gold medals, in the pairs and the eights. They together also won a silver medal in the double sculls at the 1994 World Championships.
In the 1996 Summer Olympics organized in Atlanta, Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean won the gold medal in the double sculls competition, which was 2000 meters row and they have led the competition from beginning to end, according to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. By doing so, Kathleen Heddle and Marnie McBean became the first Canadian women to take home three Olympic gold medals in any sport.
Kathleen Heddle partnered for the first time with Marnie McBean at the 1991 World Cup held in Switzerland. In accordance with the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, they together defeated the defending world champion in the first race.
By 1987, she had built her image as part of the Canadian National Rowing Team and won the gold medal in the pair competition of the Pan American Games. In 1999, Kathleen Heddle received the Thomas Keller Medal, an honor awarded annually to a recently retired athlete who has a long and successful career in rowing, and has made a contribution to rowing as a competitor and sportsperson.
Kathleen Heddle was born on November 27, 1965 at Trail in British Columbia. When she was 8 months old, her parents moved the family to Kitsilano.
Ms. Kathleen Heddle stayed in Vancouver, married to Mike Bryden in October 2000 and settled in the nearby Kerrisdale neighborhood. Kathleen Heddle is survived by her husband Mike, their two teenage children – Lyndsey and Mac, sisters Peggy Neal and Libby Heddle.
