Penny Oleksiak wearing her success with ease following historic Olympic performance in Tokyo
CBC
Canada's most decorated Olympian is feeling as good as ever, both mentally and physically, in the wake of her most recent Olympic triumph.
This week at the Swimming Canada trials in Victoria, B.C., Penny Oleksiak has been laughing, joking and soaking up every moment she's getting with her teammates.
On Thursday night at the Saanich Commonwealth Place, Oleksiak was racing for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics. Her preparation for the event was a little derailed due to getting COVID just three weeks ago.
Unfazed, Oleksiak finished second in the 200m freestyle event behind Summer McIntosh. Taylor Ruck placed third. Oleksiak posted a time of one minute 57.01 seconds, good enough to qualify for the world championships this summer in Budapest.
"I'm having a good time. This was my first time racing since the Olympics so it's definitely a bit nerve-wracking," Oleksiak told CBC Sports after the race. "I was going to try and be a hero in that free and then in the last 75 [metres] I was like, you just need to make the team and touch second. Not try and kill myself."
When it came time to presenting the medals, Oleksiak, McIntosh and Ruck stepped on the podium together and embraced.
It was a beautiful scene inside the venue, that in so many ways highlighted the positive vibes around the team right now — something not lost on Oleksiak, who won three medals in Tokyo to bring her career total to seven, the most by any Canadian Olympian.
WATCH | Summer McIntosh leads Canadian quartet in 200m:
"It's fun to be around everyone, especially right now," she said. "We've been trying to make the most of it and having fun."
It couldn't be a more different situation from what she experienced after her first Games in 2016.
It's been well-documented Oleksiak struggled both physically and mentally after the Rio Olympics. She shot to superstardom seemingly overnight at just 16 years old, becoming the first Canadian athlete to win four medals at a Summer Olympics.
But in the weeks, months and years that followed overwhelming success, Oleksiak was plagued with injury and mental health struggles.
"There is a lot of pressure that people don't talk about and people don't know about. I have to listen to myself more and back then I wasn't. Now I'm taking time to focus on myself," Oleksiak said. "It's been a learning experience. I didn't get a lot of help after 2016 from anyone really. I was kind of just going through it on my own."
After these latest Games in Tokyo, Oleksiak once again ran into some injury issues. She was forced to withdraw from the short course world championship in December because of a back injury.
