Marion Lay
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| Full name | Marion Beverly Lay | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | November 26, 1948 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Marion Beverly Lay, OBC (born November 26, 1948) is a former competitive swimmer who represented Canada in the 1964 Summer Olympics and 1968 Summer Olympics. Swimming the anchor leg for Canada's third-place team in the women's 4x100-metre freestyle relay, she won an Olympic bronze medal, together with teammates Angela Coughlan, Marilyn Corson and Elaine Tanner.[1]
Swimming career
Through the 1960s and 1970s, Canada produced a remarkable number of world-class swimmers and Lay is notable for her contributions to that success. Despite a political squabble concerning her eligibility to compete for Canada, she reigned as Canadian
TV career
Following retirement from competition, Lay was CBC's swimming colour commentator until 1973. As a coach of women swimmers, she held positions at California State Polytechnic College in Pomona, California State University at Hayward, the University of Western Ontario, and the Ottawa Kingfish Swim Club.
Activism
Lay is a leading activist in eliminating inequities faced by women in sport. She was the consultant for the first women and sport program at
Honors for advocacy
Over the years, Lay's advocacy has not gone unnoticed. Her honours include the 2001 International Olympic Committee's Women and Sport Trophy for the Americas; the inaugural Carol Anne Letheren International Sport Leadership Award in 2002, acknowledging a Canadian woman who has made an outstanding contribution to international sport leadership; the
Contributions to olympics and Paralympics
Lay was heavily involved with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, serving first as the Chair of the Vancouver 2010 Bid Committee and later as the City of Vancouver representative on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee. She was also President and CEO of the 2010 Legacies Now Society. She is President of Think Sport Ltd., a Vancouver-based sport management and consulting firm specializing in event management, program planning, evaluation, and gender equity education.
Personal life
Lay is an adjunct professor in the School of Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia, a member of the Board of Directors of ParticipACTION, and co-chair and honorary board member of the BC Games Society. She was a member of the steering committee for the Vancouver 2010 Pride House and sat on the advisory committee of the City of Vancouver LGBTQ mission to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games advocating that sexual orientation be included in the International Olympic Committee Charter.
An editor of Playing it Forward: Women and Sport in Canada, published by the Feminist History Society and Second Story Press in 2012, Lay was also a contributor to Play Fair, the feature-length documentary on women and sport in Canada produced in 2015 by Donna Gall and based on "Playing it Forward".
Following the end of her competitive career, Lay came out as lesbian, and was a coordinator of the Pride House at the 2010 Winter Olympics.[3] She is the partner of Penny Ballem, a civil servant who was the city manager of Vancouver.[4]
See also
- List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women)
- List of LGBT Olympians
References
- Kelso, John G. The History of Competitive Swimming In Canada (1867–2002). Published by: DB Perks & Associates, N. Vancouver, BC. ISBN 0973500409. May, 2003.
- Canadian Journal for Women and Coaching, April 2004, Vol. 4, No. 3: Meet Marion Lay, Sport Leader Extraordinaire by Sheila Robertson
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Marion Lay". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
- ^ "From a Swimming Correspondent: Stimulus for Swimmers". The Times. August 16, 1965. p. 2.
- OutQ News. February 16, 2010.
- ^ "Ex-deputy health minister takes city manager post: Vancouver's new city manager is no stranger to headlines". Vancouver Sun. December 13, 2008. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012.
External links
- Marion Lay at Swimming Canada
- Marion Lay at World Aquatics
- Marion Lay at Team Canada
- Marion Beverly Lay at Olympics.com
- Marion Lay at Olympedia
- Marion Lay at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
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