Penny Oleksiak never sought the spotlight, but winning seven Olympic swimming medals and becoming Canada鈥檚 most decorated Olympian in the process is the kind of thing that tends to draw attention.
It can be easy to forget Oleksiak is still just 21 years old, now five years removed from her explosion into the spotlight with a four-medal performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But the now veteran Olympian says it has been an ongoing process to deal with the fame and expectations that have come with her success.
鈥淎fter 2016, there was this kind of added pressure to everything that I was doing,鈥 she said on CTV's Your Morning on Friday. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e 16 it's kind of like you're still figuring things out a little bit and I think now I'm still figuring things out. But I think I have more of a confidence in myself and in my training, and I just really trust the process a little bit more now.鈥
She struggled with injuries in the year following the Rio Games, and then had to continue to work to get herself in the right headspace to approach the Tokyo Games.
鈥淚 think once COVID hit it kind of forced me to have to figure out who I am outside of swimming, so it was kind of hard for me at first and I didn't really know how I felt about it,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 had to really put in a lot of work and work with people and talk to people 鈥 my family, my friends 鈥 and really just set my priorities.鈥
鈥淎nd then coming out of the pandemic I was ready to train. I was motivated, I knew what I wanted to do,鈥 she said.
The Toronto swimmer has again been one of Canada鈥檚 standout performers in Tokyo, adding another three medals to her total, and headlining a Canadian performance that has featured women winning the bulk of Canada鈥檚 medals.
While still soft-spoken, she appears to have developed a comfort level with her fame. Her bio on Twitter, where she has nearly 77,000 followers, describes her as 鈥淐anada鈥檚 most decorated Olympian鈥. Her confidence was on display in a widely-read Tweet on Tuesday where she referenced a teacher in high school who had advised her to stop swimming to focus on school.
But she says the posting wasn鈥檛 meant as a criticism of the teacher, but rather as a message to inspire people to follow their dreams.
鈥淚 love to inspire kids and I think that like pushing kids to do things that they love to do is ultimately the best thing for them, so that's always something that I've kind of thought about and something that I've always tried to instill in everything that I'm posting,鈥 she said.
In terms of her own swimming, Oleksiak also knows that expectations of more success aren鈥檛 going away any time soon, as she鈥檚 already fielding questions about the potential to add to her medal totals at the next summer Olympics, set for 2024 in Paris. It鈥檚 a conversation that can wait.
鈥淚 want to sit back and celebrate what I already just did, so right now that's kind of what I'm doing,鈥 she said. 鈥淚'm going to celebrate and really soak in what I've just done and then get back to it in the next couple months and start going again for Paris."
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