He's a girl!
Broadcast Date: March 9, 1956
When "Ab" turns out to be "Abby," it makes headlines. Abby Hoffman is the star defenceman in the Toronto boy's Junior A hockey league. Her "secret" is discovered after officials take a closer look at her birth certificate. Nine-year-old Hoffman tells CBC TV that the media fuss around her is "a lot of nonsense!" While she's allowed to stay and finish the season, Hoffman hangs up her skates soon after. It's her first experience of the limitations facing women in sports.Like Bobbie Rosenfeld before her, Hoffman turns to running, specializing in the 800-metre run. She competes in four Olympics (1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976). Hoffman wins the gold medal at the 1963 and 1966 Commonwealth Games as well as the gold at the 1971 Pan American Games.
He's a girl!
• Abby Hoffman was born on Feb. 11, 1947, in Toronto, Ont.• Hoffman has been active in bringing issues relating to women and sports to the mainstream. In 1981 she became the first woman director-general of Sport Canada. That same year she also became the first woman to be named to the executive of the Canadian Olympic Association.
• Hoffman wrote a fitness column for Chatelaine magazine from 1980 to 1982. Her writing was praised for being factual and informative, different from the conventional images of attractive, thin women in tight leotards.
• Hoffman was awarded the Order of Canada in 1982.
• In 2003, Hoffman was named senior advisor with Health Canada.
He's a girl!
Medium: Television
Program: CBC Television News
Broadcast Date: March 9, 1956
Guest(s): Abby Hoffman
Duration: 2:05
Last updated:
March 9, 2008
Radio
8:22
Bobbie Rosenfeld sets the bar with her athletic excellence.
Television
2:19
The phenomenal Edmonton Grads dominate the game with their unparalleled record.
Fair Game: Pioneering Canadian Women in Sports
Barbara Ann Scott: Canada's Sweetheart - Pint-sized teen becomes the first to swim Lake Ontario
Ab turns out to be a girl- A success on and off the slopes
- Making hockey history
- Playing with the big boys
- Ambassador off the ice: Olympic hockey champ Cassie Campbell
He's a girl!.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: March 9, 2008.
[Page consulted on Feb. 13, 2012.]