Golden Penny makes waves in the capital
Olympic star Penny Oleksiak among top Canadians at Commonwealth Place
Teen sensation Penny Oleksiak, who took Canadian swimming to another level with her historic four medals — including a gold — at the 2016 Rio Olympics, trains with a paddleboard Tuesday at Saanich Commonwealth Place. Oleksiak leads the resurgence into the Canadian trials Thursday through Sunday for the 2017 FINA world aquatics championships in July at Budapest, the first major international competition since Rio last summer. The qualifying races are at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. each day at the Saanich pool.
To put in perspective what Penny Oleksiak accomplished at the 2016 Rio Olympics, consider that Canada won only four Olympic swim medals in the pool in the four Summer Games from Sydney 2000 to London 2012, and Ryan Cochrane of Victoria won half of those.
The 16-year-old Oleksiak won four by herself in Rio. She became Canada’s youngest-ever Olympic champion and the first Canadian to win four medals in any sport in the same Summer Olympics.
Oleksiak has singlehandedly taken Canadian swimming to another level and leads this resurgence into Saanich Commonwealth Place and the Canadian trials Thursday through Sunday for the 2017 FINA world aquatics championships in July in Budapest.
Yet, she remains the shy high school kid from Toronto. Basically the same one who departed to Rio last summer as a total unknown, one who couldn’t even make the team to her hometown Toronto Pan Am Games in 2015. An unknown is not how she left Brazil.
“It still seems a little weird to have people know who you are,” said the six-foot-one Oleksiak, who sprouted five inches in the two years leading to Rio, and whose lanky arms and legs generate her enormous thrust in the water.
“People looking at you on the street is still weird to take in.”
With so much now expected of her, Oleksiak is trying to let that run off her back like the water when she gets out of the pool.
“I’m not putting pressure on myself,” she said.
“I’m not expecting anything but to race my fastest and to just make the team for the world championships.”
Making the team will likely be the least of her accomplishments. As young as she is, Oleksiak is now the acknowledged leader of it, in the wake of Cochrane’s retirement.
With one a rookie last summer from Toronto, and the other a veteran from Victoria in his last of three Olympics, the two crossed paths only briefly. But that time proved meaningful.
“It’s exciting to have the torch passed. I was grateful to be on the team with Ryan, even if it was for just a few months. I learned a lot from him in that short time,” said Oleksiak.
The Penny has definitely dropped in Canadian swimming.
“The scale that we judge improvement on has changed because of her,” said Ryan Mallette, who coaches the Canadian high-performance-Victoria centre at Saanich Place, where Cochrane swam and Rio Olympic bronzemedallist Hilary Caldwell trains.
“It’s amazing what her success has done for youth swim program registration. Everybody has benefited from Penny.”
The trials to select the Canadian team for the 2017 FINA world championships are Thursday to Sunday at Saanich Commonwealth Place, with the qualifying races beginning at 10 a.m. each morning and the finals at 6 p.m. each evening. Tickets are $5 for the morning sessions and $10 for the evening finals. A full meet pass is $40.