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Abby Hoffman

BA 1968 UC - 2012 Award Recipient

Female athletes in Canada owe a debt of gratitude to trailblazing Olympian Abby Hoffman. At the age of nine and in reaction to the dearth of girls’ hockey teams at the time, she cut off her hair so she could join a boy’s league. She advanced with the team until asked to produce a birth certificate. News of her true gender made international headlines and Hoffman moved onto other sports.

As a student at UC, she took up track and field, only to be thrown out of male-only training facilities. Still, she made the Canadian Olympic team and attended four consecutive Games, acting as flag bearer in 1976. After her competitive career, she taught and worked as a sports consultant, becoming the first female director of Sports Canada. She received the International Amateur Athletic Federation Medal in 1998 and is currently a senior advisor with Health Canada.