Andre De Grasse ties Penny Oleksiak's Olympic medal record
Entering Friday, Andre De Grasse was already a Canadian Olympic legend.
But by way of an electric 4x100m relay final, he officially came into a tie for the greatest Canadian Olympian of all time.
In the 4x100m men’s relay final, De Grasse anchored Canada to a historic gold medal at the Paris Olympics, winning Canada’s first title in the event since 1996.
And with the medal, De Grasse came through with his seventh medal at the Olympic Games over three appearances, tying a Canadian record set in 2021 by swimmer Penny Oleksiak.
De Grasse failed to make the final in either the 100m or 200m individual races but was able to put down an electric anchor leg to clinch the gold medal for Canada.
“It was all on these guys right here, they did the work… all I had to do was just high-step it and bring it home,” De Grasse told CBC’s Devin Heroux about teammates Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, and Brendon Rodney.
But if there are any thoughts of jealousy, Oleksiak doesn’t appear to be showing them.
“Welcome to the clurrbb king,” Oleksiak shared on her Instagram story following the race.
Penny Oleksiak congratulates Andre De Grasse for tying her Canadian Olympic medal record.
“Welcome to the clurrbb king” pic.twitter.com/6Ppdk6qov3
— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) August 9, 2024
The gold medal was the second career one at the Olympics for the 29-year-old De Grasse, who won the 200m race in Tokyo three years ago. He also won bronze in the 100m in both Tokyo and the Rio 2016 Games, silver in the 200m in Rio, and silver and bronze in the past two 4×100 relay events prior to Paris.
The 24-year-old Oleksiak failed to qualify for the Olympics as an individual athlete, merely representing Canada in the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 4×100 medley relay. Canada was held off the podium in both events, meaning she’ll have to wait until 2028 to continue her push to add to her medal count, should she be interested in continuing her career.
Meanwhile, De Grasse himself is planning to have another Olympic Games on his resume.
“The Canadian record [in the 100m] is on my mind – 9.84 – of course. That’s always something that’s been dear to me. I mean, even when I came into the sport, I always wanted to be the 100-meter champ before the 200-meter champ. I just wasn’t able to show it today, but I think I’ll be back. I mean, I think I got another Olympics in me still. I feel pretty good. I’m healthy, so I’ll just go from there,” De Grasse said earlier this week, as per Postmedia’s Andrea Hill.
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