T R A C K I N G
I N OLYMPIAN AND SCHOLAR BRUCE KIDD HAS HIS EYE ON THIS SUMMER’S GAMES IN TOKYO BY KIRK SIBBALD
S P O R T
ven as he was becoming the de facto face of amateur athletics in Canada in the 1960s, Bruce Kidd (BA 1965 UC) knew something wasn’t right. A distance runner who rose quickly to international fame, Kidd was largely responsible for the resurgence of Canadian track and field in the 1960s. He won 18 championship races around the world and was showered with accolades, including being named the Canadian Press Athlete of the Year in 1961 and 1962. There was even a documentary film made about him, titled Runner, which featured poems composed and read by one of the 20th century’s most well-known poets, W.H. Auden. Yet amid all the admiration, Kidd couldn’t help but notice inequities among his equally successful track and field teammates. He said female teammates like Abby Hoffman (BA 1968 UC)—a four-time Olympian and five-time medalist at the Pan American Games—were treated as afterthoughts and left to train in substandard facilities. Black teammates like Harry Jerome—who set seven world records during his sprinting career—were largely ignored by media and greeted with racist jeers at nearly every track meet they attended. “It was a process of me realizing that not everybody in Canadian sport was treated with the respect this white, middle class Toronto kid received,” Kidd explained during a phone interview in January. “I could see there was a galloping double standard in the treatment by sports authorities and media of different members of our team.”
10 UC ALUMNI MAGAZINE
