Dr. Mary O’Connor: Fighting to Save Women’s Rowing
The 1979 US National W8+: Bronze at World Championships, Bled, Yugoslavia. Top row [L to R]: Jeanne Flanagan (4), Patti Brink (5), Jan Harville (7), Coach Kris Korzeniowski, Mary O’Connor (8), Holly Hatton (c). Bottom row: [L to R]: Pat Spratlen Etem (6), Sue Tuttle Hingley (3), Coach Korzeniowshi’s Father, Carol Brown (1), Carol Bower (2).
This episode was made possible in part by Breakwater Realty Group, Concept2, Live2Row, Barb, and our Patrons.
This is the first episode in a special series on gender policies in rowing. We’ll get to know some of the people behind initiatives challenging the notion of fairness and inclusion in our sport.
Since December 2022, World Athletics, World Rowing, and USRowing (and other national governing bodies) have announced updated gender identity policies. The Biden administration is proposing changes to Title IX. In response, voices across the rowing community have stood up for "fairness for women" and alternatively "inclusion for marginalized athletes." We wanted to take a closer look.
Dr. Mary O’Connor, OLY, was a member of the 1976 Yale women’s rowing program that sparked big changes following the passage of Title IX. She went on to become a member of the 1980 U.S Olympic team, an orthopedic surgeon, and a nationally recognized leader for health equity.
Today, Dr. O’Connor is a member of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports – a network and advocacy group “seeking to elevate and empower female athletes by protecting safety, fairness, and opportunity for girls and women.”
QUICK LOOK
00:00 - Introduction
03:10 - Hosts Tara and Rachel talk USRowing gender identity policies and the issue of non-binary inclusion in rowing
11:10 - Welcome to Dr. Mary O’Connor
12:20 - Rapid Fire Q&A
13:50 - Growing up in PA, walking on to the Yale crew, finding role models in teammates Chris Ernst and Anne Warner
16:10 - Yale crew early success and stand-outs > the famous Title IX protest > involvement in women’s rights and equity
19:55 - Early personal and program goals at Yale?
21:00 - Current involvement with the rowing community: rowing parent and ICONS > importance of being able to compete and excel to professional careers
26:12 - ICONS mission and leadership
28:20 - Title IX, USRowing policy, fairness and competition
31:39 - How the rowing pipeline is affected by current policies; sex differences and physiologic advantages, changing categories to Open and female-only
34:14 - Working nationally and internationally to uphold the issue of fairness and protecting the female category
38:04 - How much are trans and non-binary athletes affecting fairness for females at the collegiate level?
40:14 - Change in public perception/acceptance of trans/non-binary > gender affirming care
44:48 - ICONS petition seeks to create categories for competition to promote fairness
51:35 - How will ICONS know when it has succeeded?
50:20 - Mary’s experience at the ‘79 World Camps placing 3rd behind Russians and East Germans who had all been doping on testosterone
For a firsthand account of the transgender experience of scholastic and collegiate rowers, listen to our 2020 conversation with Cillian Mullen and Liam Miranda.
EPISODE Mentions
COXSWAINS
Valerie McClain-Ward
EVENTS
1979 World Rowing Championships
Head of the Charles
Head of the Lake
LEADERSHIP
Thomas Keller (FISA)
ROWERS
Carol Brown
Chris Ernst
Jan Palchicoff
Anne Simpson
Patricia Maria Spratlen-Etem
Anne Warner
UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
Yale women
This episode was written, produced, hosted, and edited by Tara Morgan and Rachel Freedman. Tara provides additional audio engineering and is our sponsor coordinator. Rachel manages the website, social media, and e-newsletter. Our theme music is by Jonas Hipper.