Olympian Heddle champion for Canadian rowers
VANCOUVER — Kathleen Heddle, a three-time Olympic rowing champion for Canada, died Monday after a six-year battle with cancer.
She was 55. Canada’s Heddle and Marnie McBean won Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 in the coxless pair and double sculls respectively. Heddle also earned gold with the women’s eight in 1992.
“I am crushed and without words today at this loss,” McBean wrote Wednesday in a social-media post.
Heddle battled breast and lymphnode cancer followed by melanoma and brain cancer for six years.
She died Monday at home in Vancouver, according to a Rowing Canada statement issued Wednesday on behalf of her family.
“While our grief is as heavy as the darkest moment of night, the gifts given to us by Kathleen shine bright as the moon and stars,” her family said in the statement.
Heddle was born in Trail, but her family moved to Vancouver when she was an infant. She became a rower while attending UBC. Heddle and McBean are the only Canadian athletes to win three gold medals in Summer Olympic Games.
Heddle’s quiet resolve was the foil to McBean’s dominant personality.
“Kathleen had an incredible sense of touch, seemingly aware of the natural rhythm and flow in things,” her family wrote in its tribute to her.
“Kathleen loved the serenity of being on the water and in nature, always a proponent of wearing a hat and sunscreen, even on a cloudy day.”
Heddle and McBean were inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. Heddle is survived by her husband Mike and children Lyndsey and Mac.