16-year-old Penny Oleksiak wins Canada's first gold medal at Rio 2016 Olympics

Aug 12 2016, 7:09 am

Canada’s Penny Oleksiak has won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle race in swimming.

She’s the first Canadian to ever get four medals at a single Summer Olympic Games. And she’s only 16 years-old.

The Toronto native has also won a silver medal in the 100-metre butterfly, and two bronze medals in the 4×100 and 4×200 metre freestyle relays.

Oleksiak had a slow start and was seventh at the 50-metre mark. She needed a strong finish, and finish she did. Oleksiak swam the final 50 metres in 27 seconds, 0.46 faster than the next closest competitor.

Overall, Oleksiak swam the race in 52.7 seconds, setting a new Olympic record.

She actually finished in a tie with Simone Manuel of the United States, who will also receive a gold medal. Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden picked up the bronze.

“Honestly the last 50-metres, I put my head down and I bit my lip, and I was just going as hard as I could,” Oleksiak said.

This is the first gold medal in swimming for Canada since Mark Tewksbury in 1992.

Oleksiak’s work, remarkably, still isn’t done. She will race in the 4×100 metre medley relay heat on Friday.

After that, you can bet that she’ll be Canada’s flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony.

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