Athlete

Wendy Wiebe - 2023 Hall of Fame Inductee

Wendy Wiebe
Induction Year: 2023
Category: Athlete

While primarily competing as a lightweight rower throughout her career, St. Catharine’s Wendy Wiebe made a name for herself as one of Canada’s most accomplished rowers during a decorated rowing career that stretched from the early 1980’s until the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the first Olympics to feature lightweight rowing.

Early in her rowing career, Wiebe experienced success at the domestic level. She got her start in rowing as a high school student at the St. Catharines Rowing Club and earned four gold and two silver medals from 1982-84 at the CSSRA Championships. While attending Western University she won gold at the OUAA Championships in the women’s eight in 1985 and 1986 and earned seven Royal Canadian Henley gold medals from 1984-1989 in a variety of boat classes. She also got her first taste of international competition during this era, competing at the 1983 World Rowing Junior Championships as a heavyweight and the 1984, 1986, and 1987 World Rowing Championships as lightweight, earning a bronze medal in the lightweight eight in Montreal in 1984.

After beginning her career as a sweep rower, Wiebe transitioned to sculling in 1987. The transition would prove to be a smart one for her, as she experienced the greatest successes of her career as a part of sculling boats. She soon joined the national team program and earned a bronze medal at the 1990 World Rowing Championships as part of the lightweight double, followed by a fourth place finish the following year in the same boat. In 1992, Wiebe earned another bronze medal, this time in the lightweight single, at the World Rowing Championships in Montreal. She achieved this success while working full time, and it wasn’t until 1993 that she put her career on hold and fully committed to rowing and training in the national team environment.

Wiebe won gold in the lightweight women’s single at the 1993 World University Games and that same year was partnered up with Manitoba’s Colleen Miller in the summer of 1993 in the lightweight double. The duo would go on to become one of the most successful partnerships in Canadian rowing history. They won the gold medal at three consecutive World Rowing Championships from 1993-95, as well as the Commonwealth Games in 1994. They also won the 1996 World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland and were the favourites heading into the 1996 Olympics. Unfortunately, Wiebe contracted an ill-timed flu virus on the eve of their Olympic regatta, and with their performance compromised they gamely battled to a seventh-place finish. Wiebe retired from competitive rowing following the 1996 Games, ending her career with six World Championship medals (3 gold, 3 bronze), two Pan Am Games medals (1 gold, 1 silver), and two Commonwealth Games medals (1 gold, 1 bronze).

Wiebe’s rowing career has been previously recognized with inductions into the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame (1996), Canadian Rowing Hall of Fame (2018), Western Mustangs Sports Hall of Fame (2022) and Western’s Rowing Wall of Excellence (2023).

Career Highlights

  • 6-time World Championship Medalist (3 gold, 3 bronze)
    • Gold – Lightweight Women’s Double (1993-95)
    • Bronze – Lightweight Women’s Single (1992)
    • Bronze – Lightweight Women’s Double (1990)
    • Bronze – Lightweight Women’s Eight (1984)
  • Competed in 1996 Olympics, the first to feature lightweight rowing in Lightweight Women’s Double (7th place)
  • 2-time Pan Am Games Medalist
    • Gold – Women’s Eight (1995)
    • Silver – Lightweight Women’s Single (1995)
  • 2-time Commonwealth Games Medalist
    • Gold – Lightweight Women’s Double (1994)
    • Bronze – Lightweight Women’s Four (1986)
  • 1993 World University Games Gold Medalist (Lightweight Women’s Single)
  • 1996 World Cup Gold Medalist (Lightweight Women’s Double)
  • Previously inducted into St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame (1996), Canadian Rowing Hall of Fame (2018), Western Mustangs Sports Hall of Fame (2022)