Penny Oleksiak cemented herself as Canada's most decorated Olympian with her three-medal performance in Tokyo, but the 21-year-old says it has been an ongoing process to deal with the fame and expectations that have come with her success.
TORONTO -- Penny Oleksiak never sought the spotlight, but winning seven Olympic swimming medals and becoming Canada’s most decorated Olympian in the process is the kind of thing that tends to draw attention.
“I 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,” she said. “I had to really put in a lot of work and work with people and talk to people – my family, my friends – and really just set my priorities.”
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 “Canada’s most decorated Olympian”. 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.
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