Elizabeth CRAIG

Betty Craig took up rowing in 1973 and was a rising star on the Canadian scene in the mid-1970s. She began her long international career with a trip to the 1976 Summer Olympics, where she was fifth in the coxless pairs alongside Tricia Smith. She won bronze and silver with Susan Antoft at the 1977 and 1978 World Championships respectively, and then finished seventh with a coxed fours crew consisting of Craig, Monika Draeger, and the non-Olympians Catherine Burke, Iona Mahtab, and Ilona Smith at the 1979 World Championships. This was her only departure from the coxless pairs at a major international tournament. She was selected to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics, but stayed home after Canada joined the boycott of those Games. The following year she renewed her partnership with Smith and the duo went on to capture silver, bronze, and bronze at the 1981, 1982, and 1983 World Championships respectively. Their greatest achievement, however, came in 1984 when they earned silver in the event at the Summer Olympics, behind Rodica Arba-Puşcatu and Elena Oprea-Horvat of Romania. Craig retired after the Games, but returned with Smith in 1987 and won the Canadian Championships. After an eighth-place finishing at that year’s World Championships, however, Craig retired for good. As of 2010 she lives and works on a farm in British Columbia, taking care of horses and training riders. She was made a member of the Brockville and District Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.