Rowing legend and decorated Olympian Marnie McBean receives U of T honorary degree for leadership in sport

Sen. Marnie McBean won her first two Olympic gold medals in 1992 – and would later add a gold and bronze in 1996. More than three decades later, the celebrated rower who transformed the sport in Canada is still adding to her long list of achievements. 

Today, McBean receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Toronto in recognition of her athletic excellence, tireless advocacy for equity, human rights and ethical sport, and for using sport as a platform to promote social change and empower others. 

Growing up in Toronto, McBean attended Etobicoke Collegiate Institute and played basketball, soccer and volleyball while also competing in cross-country running and track. 

Yet, despite a competitive streak, she said she wasn’t very good at any of those sports. Then she saw rowing in the movie Oxford Blues, followed by a Coffee Crisp ad that left her curious. McBean asked her mother how someone learns to row and she suggested the young teen check out the “club down by the lake.”  

“So, I just picked up the phone book and looked up the Argonaut Rowing Club,” she recalled in an interview with Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1985, McBean joined the club’s learn-to-row program and chose to become a competitive member. By 1987, she had already earned a bronze medal at the World Rowing Junior Championships.  

It was a glimpse of what was to come. 

She soon made the Canadian national rowing team and, after being paired with Kathleen Heddle, became a world champion the 1991 World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. “I’ll never forget how I felt the night before the final – we knew we could win and I was scared,” she said about competition. 

“I told Kathleen how I felt and she said, ‘me too’. From that moment on I knew we’d be fine. If we were both scared it had to be because fear was normal. We won the next day, and on many other occasions after that.”

At the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona, they won gold in both the pair and the eight, helping Canada claim four gold medals in rowing – more than any other Olympics in the country’s history. Four years later in Atlanta, they returned to win another gold medal in double sculls and a bronze in quadruple sculls. 

Where most elite rowers specialize in one discipline, McBean mastered both. She is the first woman in history to win a World Rowing Federation gold or silver medal in all three sweep events – where each athlete uses a single oar – and all three sculling events, where each athlete uses two. The achievement was recorded in the 2000 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.  

“Rowing eventually taught me to be focused and work together with other people and what you can achieve,” she told the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. 

“I think the best offshoot of doing sports and activity is the life lessons you learn through it. It makes me more physically healthy, but there’s always so much more that you learn whether it’s cooperation, teamwork, gender equity – you name it.” 

In 2000, a back injury ended her bid for a third Olympics in Sydney. So, McBean transitioned into a new role – as an athlete mentor, speaker and leader.  

She was hired by the Canadian Olympic Committee as a specialist in athlete preparation, working with multiple national teams to support athletes emotionally and psychologically. She later served as Canada’s Chef de Mission at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – a role that placed her at the helm of the entire Canadian team. 

Throughout her career, McBean has worked to make sport safer and more inclusive for everyone. That includes serving on boards of organizations that focus on the health and activity of Canada’s youth while taking steps to dismantle gender inequities, promote safe participation and increase investment in women's programs. She has also championed LGBTQ2+ inclusion through the You Can Play campaign and has been involved with PFLAG Canada, Her Mark and Fast and Female. 

“People are constantly listening to find out what’s a safe space,” she told hockey player Connor Carrick in a 2020 podcast appearance in which she called on allies to help build an inclusive environment.

“Language matters, the words you’re using matter, the stories and how you tell them matter, who you stand up for matters.” 

In 2023, McBean was appointed to the Senate of Canada and continues to be an advocate for issues related to sport, equity and national identity. In addition to her membership in the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, she has been awarded the Thomas Keller Medal, the most prestigious award in rowing. She is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the King Charles III’s Coronation Medal.