Rowing Trailblazer Craig Inducted to Row Ontario Hall of Fame
One of the trailblazers in Canadian women’s rowing was honoured on Friday, as Betty Craig was announced as the final inductee in the 2025 Row Ontario Hall of Fame Class.
A native of Brockville, Ont., Craig competed in several sports in her youth including skiing and basketball but found her most success on the water. She got her start in rowing as a teenager at the Brockville Rowing Club in 1973 shortly after the women’s rowing program was first introduced at the Eastern Ontario club. Just a few short years later she competed with Brockville Collegiate Institute at the 1975 CSSRA Championships, the first year to feature women’s rowing, where she helped the women’s four earn gold. This was the first of many trailblazing feats for Craig, who would go on to a national team career that spanned 12 years and three Olympic Games.
With just a few years of rowing experience under her belt, Craig quickly ascended to the highest levels of the sport. In 1976 she earned a spot on the National Team and competed at her first Olympics in Montreal. The 1976 Olympics was the first to feature women’s rowing and Craig was one of 24 groundbreaking Canadian women who competed on the first ever Canadian women’s rowing team at an Olympics. Racing just a few hours away from her hometown, she placed fifth in the coxless pair with partner Tricia Smith.
Craig continued her impressive international career the following year by winning her first World Championship medal, a bronze with new pair’s partner Susan Antoft. The duo also claimed a silver medal the following year at the 1978 World Championships. Craig qualified for a spot on the 1980 Olympic Team but due to Canada’s Olympic boycott was unable to compete. Undeterred, she reunited with Smith in 1981 and began a four-year run that would see the duo achieve unprecedented success.
The pair captured medals at three consecutive World Championships in the lead up to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The highlight of Craig’s career would come in LA when her and Smith won the silver medal behind the pair from Romania. Following the 1984 Olympics, she retired for two years but made a comeback with Smith in 1987 to win the Canadian Championships and compete in one final World Championship race. Craig retired for good following the 1987 season with five World Championship medals (2 silver, 3 bronze), two trips to the Olympics and one Olympic silver medal.
Craig has been recognized for her outstanding career by being inducted into the Brockville and District Sports Hall of Fame (1995) and the Canadian Rowing Hall of Fame (2018, 2019).
Row Ontario has been announcing the inductions of the 2025 Hall of Fame class throughout the week as part of ‘Hall of Fame Week’. Other members of the class include, Ian McFarlane (Coach), who was announced in May, the 1984 Men’s Eight (Crew), Doug Marshall (Coach), and Peter King (Builder), Natalie Mastracci (Athlete) and Andy Crosby (Athlete).
Picture is property of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
