Penny Oleksiak wins another medal, makes Canadian Olympic history

Penny Oleksiak has made Canadian Olympic history.

The 21-year-old Toronto swimmer has won her second medal of Tokyo 2020, this time a bronze medal in the women’s 200-metre freestyle. The medal is the sixth of her Olympic career, which is more than any other Canadian has won at a Summer Games.

When including the Winter Olympics, Oleksiak’s medal ties her with Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen for the all-time Canadian record.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus won gold, while Siobhan Bernadette Haughey claimed Hong Kong’s first-ever medal in swimming, as she takes home silver.

The swimmer from the six makes it six 🥉

Penny Oleksiak has won bronze in the 200m freestyle which gives her 6 Olympic medals…so far @SwimmingCanada
WATCH: https://t.co/ZoPibtUgIT pic.twitter.com/N2wEn02Zwr

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 28, 2021

Oleksiak was in fourth place after the third turn, but poured it on in the final 50 metres to get a spot on the podium.

“When I touched the wall I was in so much pain, my legs hurt! That was worth every second of pain I just went through,” Oleksiak said in a post-race television interview with CBC.

This is the first individual Olympic medal Oleksiak has won at this distance, and she didn’t even compete in this event at Rio 2016.

Oleksiak anchored the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay team to a silver medal on the weekend. Five years ago in Rio, Oleksiak won gold in the 100-metre freestyle and silver in the 100-metre butterfly, to go with a pair of bronze medals with relay teams.

When asked how it felt being the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete ever, the humble Canadian described it as “really weird.”

“I’m not done yet so I hope that there’s more coming.”