Canadian Olympic legend Penny Oleksiak banned from swimming for two years
Penny Oleksiak has been banned from competitive swimming for two years.
The 25-year-old Canadian accepted a two-year ban from competition due to three whereabouts failures. The ban has been applied retroactively to this past July 15, meaning that Oleksiak cannot compete through July 14, 2027.
Athlete whereabouts boil down to the World Anti Doping Agency’s drug testing program. Any athlete selected for such a test is provided a 60-minute window in which they are available to take any required test. The window is to be provided 90 days in advance.
As per World Aquatics, an athlete may receive a filing failure if they submit late, inaccurate, or incomplete whereabouts that lead them to be unavailable for testing.
Oleksiak was forced to withdraw from the World Aquatics Championship in July due to her whereabouts issue, but maintained that she has never cheated by using any type of performance enhancers.
“I want to emphasize that this whereabouts case does not involve any banned substance; it’s about whether I updated my information correctly,” Oleksiak wrote in a statement on her Instagram page in July.
“Out of respect for Swimming Canada, my fellow racers and clean sport, I have decided not to compete at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. I am and always have been a clean athlete and will be making no further comment at this time.”
As per CBC, any combination of three filing failures or missed tests within a 12-month span can result in a two-year ban, such as the one Oleksiak was just assessed.
Oleksiak is Canada’s most decorated female Olympian, having won a gold, two silvers, and four bronze medals throughout her Olympic career. She is also tied with sprinter Andre de Grasse for the most Olympic medals in Canadian history.
Oleksiak has competed in three separate Olympic Games: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024. She was unable to medal in Paris 2024, finishing fourth in both the 4x100m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay.