Full Description
In the 1960s, Bruce Kidd was one of Canada's most celebrated athletes. As a teenager, Kidd won races all over the globe, participated in the Olympics, and started a revolution in distance running and a revival in Canadian track and field. He quickly became a symbol of Canadian youth and the subject of endless media coverage.
Although most athletes of his generation were cautioned to keep their opinions to themselves, Kidd took it upon himself to speak out on the problems and possibilities of Canadian sport. Encouraged by his parents and teammates, Kidd criticized the racism and sexism of amateur sport in Canada, the treatment of players in the National Hockey League, American control of the Canadian Football League, and the uneven coverage of sports by the media - and he continues to fight for equity to this day. After retiring from his career as an athlete, Kidd became a well-known advocate for gender and racial justice and an academic leader at the University of Toronto.
Depicting a Canadian sport legend's journey of joy, discovery, and activism, this memoir bears witness to the remarkable changes Bruce Kidd has lived through in more than seventy years of participation in Canadian and international sports.
Contents
Introduction
Part One: The Education of an Athlete
1. A Boy on the Beach
2. I Become a Runner
3. Choosing Canada
4. Canadian Hero
5. Commonwealth Champion
6. A Cheer for Amateurism
7. Great Expectations
8. Lane Three
Part Two: The Education of an Activist
9. Gap Year
10. Recreation for All
11. The Olympic Project for Human Rights
12. The Canadian Sport System
13. Wafflers and Jockrakers
14. The Political Economy of Sport
Part Three: My Struggle for Canadian Sport
15. Dream Job
16. Critical Support for the Olympics
17. A Boycott that Worked
18. Feminist Ally
19. Recovery Projects
20. Struggling for the Olympic Ideals
21. A Sport System We Can Be Proud Of
22. Renewing Varsity
23. A New Social Movement
24. Runner with a Worldview
