³Õ±õ°ä°Õ°¿¸é±õ´¡â€”Penny Oleksiak was signing autographs and the line stretched down the hall, and she was great: posing for every picture, looking everyone in the eyes. The little girls really loved her. Summer McIntosh draws the biggest crowds, of course. Josh Liendo is increasingly popular, too. But Penny is still tied with Andre De Grasse as Canada’s most decorated Olympian, as her Instagram bio notes, and it’s true. She will remain so for at least three more years.
Her future, though, is unknown. It’s been nine years since Penny won four medals in Rio, four years since she fought her way to three more in Tokyo, and a year since she was disappointed by being left off the 4x100-metre relay final team in Paris. For a straight-line swimmer, it’s all been a winding path.
“Oh my gosh, seriously, it was a long journey to Paris,†said Oleksiak at the Commonwealth Place pool this week, after qualifying for the world championships in the 50 and 100 freestyle. “But it’s good to be back racing consistently. I think I’ve raced a lot more this year than I have in the last two, three years. It’s all going pretty well, and I’m excited to get out there this summer.
“Oh my god, I love it right now. I hated it for a while, but right now I’m really loving it.â€
PERSONAL BEST PENNY OLEKSIAK
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux)
For the first time in her career Penny Oleksiak posts a sub-25 second time in the 50m freestyle
She takes the trials win with a 24.89. What a wonderful result for Penny.
There was the meniscus surgery on her left knee in 2022, and another knee surgery early in 2024. Before that, there were the clashes with then-national team coach Ben Titley, who decamped to Spain in 2022, as Oleksiak rebelled and fell out of shape. That extra year for the Olympics in 2021 helped her. In 2024, she left the national training centre in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and moved to work with Jeff Julian and the Mission Viejo pro group deep in the wilds of Orange County, south of L.A.
She doesn’t have to swim now. She wants to.Â
“There was a lot of ups and downs with racing and training and everything. And there were a lot of times where I wasn’t really doing it because I wanted to, and now I’m showing up every day because I want to be there,†she says. “I went from having a coach that was constantly telling me when and where to be at, and how to act and what to do, and now I have a coach that if I want to miss a week of training, he’s not going to tell me to show up.
“So, I think it took a year of me just kind of realizing: Do I really want to be doing this? Is this really something I’m striving for? And now I show up all the time because I want to be there. I drive over an hour to go do weight sessions some days of the week.
“And it’s a really fun journey for me now ... and I’m so grateful for my journey and everyone who’s a part of it.â€
That ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s McIntosh can even approach the sport’s most untouchable marks at this age is
Here, she swam a 54.03 in the 100 free. It was enough to edge Taylor Ruck for the Canadian title, but Oleksiak and many observers were hoping for 53.5 or faster. Oleksiak won the 50 free as well in 25.11, again over Ruck, again in a time that wouldn’t have qualified for a final in Paris. She’s likely past her time as an individual medallist, though one never knows.
She could have had a greater career, of course — maybe world records, more medals, whatever. But she clearly needed to swim on her terms, too. Could she write a better final Olympic chapter as a key relay piece in Los Angeles, after being dropped for the 4x100 final in Paris? How fast can she go?
And then after she signed the autographs — Penny truly appreciates being appreciated, especially given her anonymity in California — she went out and watched Summer set her third world record of this astonishing meet, swimming 4:23.65 in the 400-metre individual relay to break her own mark and cap five of the most consequential days a swimmer could have.
HERO’S WORLD RECORD WELCOME
— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux)
Penny Oleksiak, one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians with 7 medals, right there to greet Summer McIntosh after her third world record in five days.
A beautiful moment between two gifted athletes.
Summer set world records in the 400 free, the 200 IM and the 400 IM. Even more incredibly, she took runs at two of the most unbreakable records in the sport, and nearly broke them: Katie Ledecky’s 800 free, and the utterly suspicious 2:01.81 in the 200 butterfly set in 2009 by Chinese swimmer Liu Zige.Â
Summer, of course, idolized Penny and was inspired by those 2016 Games, and Penny wrapped Summer up in a huge hug after the 400 and said she was proud of her. Maybe Summer doesn’t happen the same way without Penny. The two women are just wired differently. Assuming good health and continued intention, Summer has a chance to be the greatest swimmer of all time.
And Penny was out ahead of Summer, and will fall behind her. She has chosen a different lane. She is her own person, fully and completely. She will love swimming the right amount for her. Maybe almost enough.Â
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