Tags
Active for Life, competitive swimming, Olympics, Penny Oleksiak, Rio, swimming, Team Canada, women in sport
As a woman, a Canadian, a former competitive swimmer, and the mother to two young girls, this past week at the Olympics has been pretty incredible to watch.
Canadian women rocked – particularly in the pool. But really, their successes dominated the Canadian Olympic coverage and it was just so empowering to watch.
In case you missed it, let me help you catch up.
Here’s a quick montage from CBC:
Canadian women have been #Unstoppable in the Olympics so far. Watch the entire montage here: https://t.co/nLfhyEdk69 https://t.co/kdgumw7mzm
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 13, 2016
The stats as of right now? Twelve medals for Canada. And in one week 16-year-old Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak has become something of a household name with her four Olympic medals.
#CAN Penny Oleksiak breaks Canadian record by winning her fourth swimming medal of #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/bZI3aREIQn
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 12, 2016
Her gold in the 100 free is the first gold Canada has won in the pool since 1992 (Mark Tewksbury, 100 back). Her win also makes her the youngest gold medallist in Canadian Olympic history.
In case that wasn’t enough to make the whole thing feel truly historic and empowering in a more global sense, she tied for first in the 100 free with the US’s Simone Manuel – the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold in an individual swimming event.
#USA‘s Simone Manuel & #CAN‘s Penny Oleksiak tied for first in the 100m freestyle with 52.70!! #swimming pic.twitter.com/hKRDAQBS3r
— Rio 2016 (@Rio2016_en) August 12, 2016
As for Penny, fans responded in a fun and truly Canadian way:
Bring back the Penny. pic.twitter.com/xqEpU1mGTx
— Matthew Henderson (@mhenderson95) August 12, 2016
And Penny herself? In addition to excelling in the pool, vocally cheering on her teammates and showing true teamwork, sportsmanship and grace throughout her amazing week in the pool, she also shared a bit of herself beyond the pool in social media, which just made me (and I’m guessing many others) like her even more. She tried to buy Drake tickets, but they were sold out.
So @Kjmasse and I tried to buy @Drake tickets to celebrate.. Basically sold out🙃 #ugh #maybenexttime pic.twitter.com/7EoyTo9dBL
— Penny Oleksiak (@OleksiakPenny) August 10, 2016
However, he then followed her on Twitter, so there’s that.
This is literally amazing @Drake I’m crying 😂😂 #startedfromthebottom https://t.co/eoDWVzSWvR
— Penny Oleksiak (@OleksiakPenny) August 13, 2016
Then came the invite, but it’s unclear if she’ll be able to go:
Uh oh @oleksiakpenny got Drake invite. But mom says she might be competing in Asia & unable to go. “Teenagers!”: Mom pic.twitter.com/6r9A9zwMP8
— David Common (@davidcommon) August 13, 2016
Either way, Penny Oleksiak has clearly won her way into many hearts and at just 16 years of age has years ahead of her in both her sports career and in whatever she chooses to do beyond that. She is inspiring.
Getting back to other events in the past week, as a former backstroker, I cheered as Canada took home bronze in both the 100 and 200 back – go Kylie Masse and Hilary Caldwell!
ICYMI | Hilary Caldwell wins bronze, Canada’s 6th swim medal https://t.co/ncndKzfjcP pic.twitter.com/jsIS8IYX0X
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 13, 2016
Swimmer Kylie Masse wins Canada’s 4th medal in #Rio2016 https://t.co/YvAsERcyEu pic.twitter.com/iYBqgtLBMZ
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 9, 2016
And while swimming holds a special place in my heart, Canadian women were also cleaning up in many other sports.
Power words propel Canadian rowers to #silver https://t.co/6AEW0RZC79 pic.twitter.com/ovGVhWUt0k
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 13, 2016
Newsmaker: Rosie MacLennan’s perseverance worth its weight in gold #Rio2016 https://t.co/GjFWZGiTVu pic.twitter.com/GgmVnWKp4a
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 13, 2016
ICYMI | Canadian divers Benfeito, Filion win bronze in Rio synchro event https://t.co/jlheadV8dm pic.twitter.com/9u0tz3ryfy
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 10, 2016
‘Freaking historic’: #CAN wins #bronze in women’s rugby 7s #Rio2016 https://t.co/prrx7oGLR9 pic.twitter.com/SnOSzX0Kdx
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 9, 2016
The Canadian women are showing their strength in #Rio2016 #LikeAGirl #BronzeMedal @AthleticsCanada @btheiseneaton pic.twitter.com/S17LppTlON
— Calver (@CalPhotography) August 14, 2016
.@CyclingCanada‘s team pursuit bronze medallists have a message for all the amazing ladies back home🇨🇦#Someday https://t.co/OOdeGaMdK2
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) August 14, 2016
I can’t wait to see what comes next in Rio for all our athletes. You make us all so very proud. Go Team Canada!
Thank you for sharing about the Canadian Olympians. Living in the USA, means most of our coverage is about the athletes representing the US. Swimming is my favorite summer olympic sport and I must say Penny was just exciting to watch every time she entered the pool. I look forward to watching her for years to come.
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A very belated thank you for the comment! A month out, I am still so very happy with how the Canadian swimmers did and am so impressed with Penny’s performance. Like you, I hope to watch her excel for many years to come in the sport!
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Yay, Canada! Did you see my Ode to Gold?
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Ah! I have been very blog remiss – I will go have a look as I reconnect over the next couple days with my online life (if it still exists!).
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No worries. I understand being busy very well.
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