“Perhaps the two-year age difference
between those younger rowers and the older
varsity guys made a difference in perception.”
>
Being a physically strong woman made you
stand out in the ‘70s and Graves remembers
a recurring comment towards her of ‘oh wow.’
“I didn’t care what ‘oh wow’ meant,” says Graves.
“I felt good! Being an athlete, a rower, was very
affirming for me.”
When Graves first started rowing she never
imagined that she would be able to row at
the Olympic Games, but in 1975 Graves clearly
remembers when she heard that it was going
to be possible for her to try out for the Worlds
and Olympic teams. Graves remembers walking
home from the boathouse in the freezing snow.
“The streets were a wet, cold mess. My feet were
freezing. I was lit up with happiness because
I knew I was going to have the opportunity to be
a member of an Olympic Team.”
Graves is sure that if women at the time had
had the opportunity to row they would have.
The opportunity, however, was limited. Boyne
echoes this sentiment: “Lack of resources
and opportunities, first and foremost; lack
of knowledge about the sport; lack of
encouragement in the culture,” he lists.
Boyne says that of the women in the crew that
he interviewed for his book, there was a negative
feeling about how they were treated at the time.
“This is a huge part of the story - breaking the
gender barrier in a very male dominated sport,”
says Boyne.
“[The 1970s] were a very important decade,
where the attitude (towards women athletes)
started at rock bottom and ended with great
promise. I think it is safe to say that at the
beginning of the ‘70’s women were definitely
considered second-class athletes at best.”
Graves made the 1975 World Rowing
Championship team in the women’s eight – the
crew that would become known as the Red
Rose Crew. At the time Graves had no conscious
realisation that she was breaking new ground
for women rowers. “It was much more about
every workout, every stroke, every day,” says
Graves. “After our eight won the 1975 Worlds
silver I think we all became aware of what was
outside of our box.”
