Penny Oleksiak
June 13, 2000 — Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Penny Oleksiak is a Canadian competitive swimmer who became Canada's most decorated Olympic athlete, winning seven Olympic medals across three Games and capturing the nation's imagination with a breakthrough gold medal performance in the 100m freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics at just 16 years old.
A Prodigy in the Pool
Born on June 13, 2000 in Toronto, Ontario, Oleksiak grew up in a sporting family (her brother Mark played in the NHL) and demonstrated exceptional talent in swimming from a young age. She qualified for her first Olympics at only fifteen, heading to Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2016 as one of the youngest members of the Canadian Olympic team. Almost no one outside Canadian swimming circles expected much from her, but she swam the 100-metre freestyle final with a speed and composure that astonished everyone in the venue, finishing in a dead heat with American swimmer Simone Manuel. Both were credited with the gold medal in a true tie — the first Olympic gold medal in swimming for a Canadian woman in 24 years and the first by an American Black woman. She was 16 years, 1 month, and 20 days old.
Olympics in Tokyo and Paris
At the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Oleksiak added four more medals — gold, silver, and two bronze — to become Canada's all-time most decorated Summer Olympian at just 21, surpassing Clara Hughes. At the 2024 Paris Olympics she added two more, bringing her career total to seven Olympic medals. Her longevity at the top level of international swimming, combined with the early explosion of her breakthrough at Rio, has made her one of the most beloved figures in Canadian sport. She competes for the University of Texas Longhorns in NCAA swimming alongside her international career.
Did You Know?
Oleksiak's tie for gold with Simone Manuel in Rio required the use of a rarely-invoked Olympic protocol: when two competitors finish simultaneously to the hundredth of a second, both receive gold medals and both appear at the top of the podium. The moment was particularly resonant because Manuel's gold was historic for American swimming, while Oleksiak's was the moment that introduced her to the world at an age when most Olympians are still dreaming about competing.
Canada's Greatest Olympian
As of the 2024 Paris Games, Penny Oleksiak holds the record as Canada's most decorated Olympian with seven medals, surpassing figures like Clara Hughes, Chantal Petitclerc, and Mark Tewksbury in a country with a proud Olympic history. She has managed the pressures of early fame with considerable grace, speaking publicly about mental health challenges and the difficulty of balancing elite sport with ordinary young adulthood. She remains one of the most recognizable athletes in Canada and one of the bright young stars of international swimming with potentially another Olympics ahead of her.