Brenda Susan TAYLOR

Brenda Taylor joined the Canadian national rowing team in 1984 and placed fifth in the eights at her first major international tournament, the 1985 World Championships. She repeated this performance in 1986, captured bronze in the event at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, and then did not appear at any major tournaments again until 1989, when she placed fourth in the coxless fours alongside Kirsten Barnes, Kathleen Heddle, and Marnie McBean at the World Championships. The quartet repeated their performance the following year and then traded Heddle and McBean for Jennifer Doey and Jessica Monroe, which led them to win gold in the event at the 1991 World Championships. These four, with Heddle, McBean, Megan Delehanty, Lesley Thompson-Willie, and the non-Olympian Kelly Mahon, also won gold in the eights at the same tournament. For her last international tournament, the 1992 Summer Olympics, Taylor once again won two gold medals in these events, with Kay Worthington substituting for Doey in both (Doey dropped out prior to the event due to a back injury) and Shannon Crawford in place of Mahon in the eights. She retired from active competition following the Games and was inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.