Abigail Golda Hoffman, OC (born February 11, 1947) is a Canadian former track and field athlete.
Hockey
Hoffman is Jewish, and was born in Toronto.[2][3][4] She learned to skate when she was three. In the mid-1950s when she was nine, she wanted to play hockey but there weren't any existing leagues specifically for girls in the Toronto area. As a result her parents registered her in the local boy's league as "Ab Hoffman". Due to her age and the fact that Abby sported a short hair cut, she was not easy to distinguish from the boys. When it was discovered she was a girl, she was no longer allowed to play despite the fact that she had not yet reached the age of puberty. The case went to the Ontario Supreme Court, where she lost,[5] and the story was covered by Time and Newsweek.[6]
Track and field
After her experiences with hockey, Hoffman participated in competitive swimming and then realized she was particularly suited to track and field, specifically 800-metre running. She competed in four Olympic Games: (1964, 1968, 1972 and 1976), four Pan American Games and two Commonwealth Games and was Canada's flag-bearer at the 1976 Games in Montreal.
Hoffman competed in two summer Universiades in 1965 and 1967, where she took home a bronze medal and a silver medal respectively in the 800 metre event. She won the gold medal in the 880-yard event at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
She finished seventh in the 800 metres at the Mexico Olympics. She finished eighth in the 1972 Munich games where she ran the 800 metres in 2:00.17 seconds to set a Canadian record.[7] She also won gold for the 800-metre race at the 1963 Pan American Games and 1971 Pan American Games and the bronze at the 1967, at the 1975 Games, a silver and a bronze for the 800-metre and the 1500-metre distances.
From 1981 to 1991, she was the first woman director general of Sport Canada, a federal government sports agency. In 1981, she was the first Canadian woman elected to the Executive Committee of the Canadian Olympic Committee. From 1980 to 1982, she wrote a fitness column for the Canadian magazine, Chatelaine.
In 1982, she and Maureen McTeer, supported the first women's national championship in ice hockey (known as the Shopper's Drug Mart Women's Nationals). The Abby Hoffman Cup is named in her honour. Since 1995, she has been a council member of the International Association of Athletics Federations. In 2003, she was named senior advisor with Health Canada and is executive co-ordinator of Health Canada's pharmaceutical management strategies. She is currently the assistant deputy minister for the Strategic Policy Branch for Health Canada.
She is also the sister of Paul F. Hoffman, a geologist who has promoted the "snowball earth" hypothesis.
Honours
In 1982, Hoffman was made an officer of the Order of Canada. In 2004, she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In 2007, she was inducted into the Jewish Canadian Athletes Hall of Fame.[2]
In June 2015, she received an honorary Doctorate of Laws, from her alma mater, the University of Toronto.[9]
* Distances have varied as follows: 880 yards (1959–1986), 800 meters (1987–date) except 1000 meters (2015, 2017,2019). The 1958 race was run as an exhibition.
*Distances have varied as follows: Mile (1967–2002), except 1997 and 1999, 2007 and odd numbered years since 2011, 1500 meters 1997, 1999, (2003–6, 2008–2010) and even numbered years since 2010
