Penny Oleksiak

Penelope "Penny" Oleksiak, born June 13, 2000, is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Nicknamed "Magic Penny", she is one of Canada's most decorated Olympians and was widely considered the face of the Canadian women's swimming team in the 2010s. She rose to fame at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, becoming the first Canadian to win four medals at a single Summer Games and the country's youngest Olympic champion. She was also the first athlete born in the 2000s to win an individual Olympic gold medal.

Oleksiak began swimming at a neighbour's pool and took up the sport at age nine with encouragement from her father. Although initially rejected by several Toronto swim clubs, she joined the Toronto Olympian Swim Team under coach Gary Nolden. Her performance later drew the attention of coach Ben Titley. At the 2014 Canadian Age Group Championships, she won ten individual medals and three relay golds. Despite fracturing her elbow in a cycling accident in 2015, she earned six medals at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships six weeks later.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Oleksiak won four medals: bronze in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, silver in the 100 m butterfly, bronze in the 4×200 m freestyle relay, and gold in the 100 m freestyle, tying Simone Manuel with an Olympic record time of 52.70 seconds. Oleksiak served as Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremony. Later in 2016, she won four medals at the short course World Swimming Championships in Windsor. For her achievements, she received the Lou Marsh Trophy, the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award, and was named CBC's athlete of the year.

Despite struggling with injuries and a concussion in 2017, Oleksiak won two mixed relay bronze medals at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships and five relay gold medals at the World Junior Swimming Championships. She added three relay silver medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 2019, she competed for the Energy Standard Swim Club, winning the inaugural International Swimming League title, and became a global ambassador for Phelps Brand.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, held in 2021, Oleksiak secured three additional medals: silver in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, bronze in the 200 m freestyle, and bronze in the 4×100 m medley relay. These achievements brought her total to seven Olympic medals, setting a record for the most Olympic medals won by a Canadian, a distinction she shares with sprinter Andre De Grasse. Oleksiak remains Canada's most decorated athlete at the World Aquatics Championships and holds current junior world and national records in the 100 m freestyle.