July 29, 1996
SHUNNING THE SPOTLIGHT
HEDDLE'S ACTIONS DEFINITELY SPEAK LOUDER THAN HER WORDS
By STEVE SIMMONS
At The Olympics
LAKE LANIER, Ga. -- Kathleen Heddle was telling a story and laughing, which is a story in itself.
She was sitting in a chair, wearing her latest Olympic medal - her fourth - trying to explain how it feels to be referred to as the greatest Olympian in Canadian history.
She was revelling in the moment, being a celebrity, being loose, and talking about watching herself on television the night before.
She and partner Marnie McBean were watching a televised replay of their gold-medal row when the announcer called them the greatest Olympic athletes in Canadian history.
"We just looked at each other and we both laughed," Heddle said. "And I'm thinking, that can't be."
It can be and it is.
When Heddle and McBean, as part of the quadruple sculls team won a bronze medal yesterday, they assured themselves a certain place in Canadian sporting history: Three more gold medals than Silken Laumann has - one more medal than Laumann's three.
And does anyone in Canada have any idea of just who Kathleen Heddle is?
"She's the best (female) rower in the world," said McBean, who is known for her success on the water, her frankness in her words and her TV commercials throughout Canada.
"If she rowed in the single sculls she'd beat Silken, she'd represent Canada and she would win the gold, but she doesn't want to. It's not her personality."
Kathleen Heddle's quiet way has kept herself out of the headlines and her partner in them in during the two Olympics in which they have competed. She has raced only four times as an Olympian and has been on the podium each time. The first three times, gold. Yesterday, with silver on her mind, bronze wasn't exactly the color of choice.
But happy endings are best for fairy tales and Kathleen Heddle's life has had its bumpy moments.
She was, has been, and is only getting over, being painfully shy. It has been so easy for her to be partnered with McBean, so comfortable. It was Marnie's team, Marnie's words, Marnie on television. If you paid attention to rowing, you would thought it was the team of McBean and McBean.
That didn't happy by accident. That was the way Heddle wanted it.
There were rules to their partnership. "If we were at a dinner or something and kids came up and asked me for an autograph, I'd sign it," McBean said. "But if Kathleen was standing right beside me, I wasn't allowed to introduce her. I wasn't allowed to say `This is Kathleen Heddle, she won gold medals, she's my partner. Do you want her autograph, too?'
"I did it once. She told me `Don't do that again.'
"There were other rules, things I could do, things I couldn't do, Kathleen likes things a certain way."
What she didn't like was something she will attempt again after today. It's called retirement from rowing. She tried it once after the Barcelona Games. But it left her listless and depressed. The situation was unpleasant - some say serious - although she won't elaborate much on it. She had troubles, until she was talked into returning to rowing.
And now she walks away again. This time, at age 30. This time, knowing she isn't going back. But this time, again, not certain where she is heading. She knows she wants a job, she just doesn't know what kind of job she wants. She is looking for the kind of dream sports provided her with, but "I don't even have a dream job in mind."
What she has is a reputation for hard work, integrity and achievement. What she has is a personality growing more relaxed and more outgoing as the years pass. It used to be, you'd asked Heddle a question and McBean would answer it. That, too, was part of the bargain. "I did all the interviews," McBean said. "She didn't want any part of that."
Yesterday, as the four women from the bronze-medal team sat and answered questions, Marnie McBean spoke first and loudest, but Kathleen Heddle seemed oh so comfortable after her final race.
Her name - their names - will go in the record books, for others to look at, to talk about, to remember. The most decorated Olympians in Canadian history. No one has ever won four gold medals. They have won three.
Kathleen Heddle will walk out of the Athletes' Village in a few days and will leave behind her storied rowing career. She also will leave another mark, of quiet efficiency, and of the greatest Canadian athlete hardly anyone ever knew.
