Penny Oleksiak of Toronto, Ontario is in the Canadian Olympic record books. On Saturday in Canada (Sunday in Japan), the 21-year-old swimming phenom won her seventh Olympic medal all-time and became the most decorated Canadian Olympian of all-time.
Four of Oleksiak’s medals came at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and three medals came at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Overall, she has one gold medal, two silver medals and four bronze medals.
Oleksiak won her record-breaking medal in the women’s 4×100 metre medley relay. She was part of the Canadian team in the final alongside Maggie Mac Neil of London, Ontario, Sydney Pickrem of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Kylie Masse of Windsor, Ontario. Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, British Columbia, and Kayla Sanchez of Scarborough, Ontario, were also part of the Canadian team that won the bronze medal as they were participants in the heat.
Team Canada won the bronze medal with a time of 3:52.60, a national record. Australia won the gold medal with a time of 3:51.60, and the United States won the silver medal with a time of 3:51.73. The Canadians reached the podium by 1.53 seconds over China, which had a fourth place time of 3:54.13.
Oleksiak passed Canadian Olympic icons Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes, each of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Klassen won a total of six medals in speed skating at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. Hughes meanwhile won two medals in cycling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and then four medals in speed skating at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
Team Canada has now won 13 medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. They have three gold medals, four silver medals, and six bronze medals, and are 12th in the overall medal standings.
