Virginia Gilder

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Ginny Gilder

| image = Ginny Gilder.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_name = Virginia Anne Gilder

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|6|4}}

| birth_place = New York, New York, U.S.

| alma_mater = Yale University (1979)

| occupation = Entrepreneur, investor

| other_interests = Co-owner of Seattle Storm

| website =

| headercolor = lightsteelblue

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's rowing }}

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

}}

Virginia Anne Gilder (born June 4, 1958), also known as Ginny Gilder, is a former American rower and Olympic silver medalist. Gilder is a co-owner of the Seattle Storm, a professional women's basketball team in the WNBA.{{cite news |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/storm/2019259191_brewergilder26.html |title=Storm co-owner Gilder's resolve takes your breath away |work=Seattle Times |first=Jerry |last=Brewer |date=September 25, 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.wnba.com/storm/contact/force10.html |title=Force 10 Hoops LLC |publisher=Seattle Storm / WNBA |access-date=December 31, 2013}}

Early life

Gilder is the daughter of Richard Gilder and was raised on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She attended the Chapin School, followed by Dana Hall School where she graduated one year early.{{Cite web |date=2021-02-09 |title=Virginia "Ginny" Gilder 1976 |url=https://library.danahall.org/virginia-ginny-gilder-1976/ |access-date=2021-02-10 |language=en-US}}

In 1976, Gilder attended Yale University, graduating with a degree in history in 1979.{{cite web |url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3088 |title=Taking Seattle by Storm |work=Yale Alumni Magazine |first=Meri-Jo |last=Borzilleri |date=March–April 2011 |quote=Virginia Gilder '79}}

Rowing career

While at Yale, Gilder was on the women's crew team. However, there was no locker room available for the women's crew team, so they had to wait on the bus after practice while the men showered before they could return to campus.{{Cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Karen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3J_3pDNZlkC&dq=chris+ernst&pg=PA855 |title=Gender and Women's Leadership: A Reference Handbook |date=2010-08-18 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-6083-0 |pages=855 |language=en}}

In 1976, she was part of a protest in which nineteen members of the Yale women's crew wrote "TITLE IX" on their bodies and went into athletic director Joni Barnett's office naked, and then rower Chris Ernst read a statement about the way they were being treated.{{Cite web|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/04/17/gilder-a-force-for-change/|title=Gilder: A force for change|date=April 17, 2015|website=Yale Daily News}}{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-a-naked-protest-changed-womens-rowing-forever-215616599.html |title=How a naked protest changed women's rowing forever |publisher=Sports.yahoo.com |date=2016-08-13 |access-date=2019-03-11}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1992-05-24-0000201585-story.html|title=YALE HEARD NAKED TRUTH IN PROTEST|website=Hartford Courant|date=May 24, 1992 }} This protest was noted by newspapers around the world, including The New York Times. By 1977, a women's locker room was added to Yale's boathouse.{{cite web|last=Wulf |first=Steve |url=http://www.espn.com/espnw/title-ix/article/7985418/espn-magazine-1976-protest-helped-define-title-ix-movement |title=ESPN The Magazine - The 1976 protest that helped define Title IX movement |work=Espn.com |date=2012-06-14 |access-date=2019-03-11}}

Gilder was first selected for the U.S. Olympic team in 1980, the year that the United States boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia. She was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal many years later.{{cite book|last1=Caroccioli|first1=Tom|last2=Caroccioli|first2=Jerry|title=Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games|date=2008 |publisher=New Chapter Press|location=Highland Park, IL|isbn=978-0942257403|pages=243–253}} She was a member of the American women's quadruple sculls team that won the silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gi/ginny-gilder-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418045308/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/gi/ginny-gilder-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=Ginny Gilder}}

Author and private life

She is the author of Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX which was released April 14, 2015 by Beacon Press.{{Cite book |last=Gilder |first=Ginny |title=Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX |date=April 14, 2015 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=9780807074770 |language=en}} The paperback and audiobook were released April 12, 2016.

In 2012, Gilder married Lynn Slaughter.{{cite news |last1=Brewer |first1=Jerry |title=Storm co-owner Gilder’s resolve takes your breath away |publisher=Seattle Times |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/storm/storm-co-owner-gilders-resolve-takes-your-breath-away/ |date=September 25, 2012}}