Penny Oleksiak's father shares badass story from her childhood

Steven Psihogios
·2 min read

On Day 7 of the Tokyo Olympics, Canada's Penny Oleksiak finished fourth in the women's 100m freestyle. Swimming well, she missed a spot on the podium by seven-hundredths of a second despite setting a new Canadian record in the process.

A medal in the event would've marked seven total for Oleksiak, making her the most decorated Canadian Olympian of all time. Instead, she remains tied with Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen for the lead with six medals apiece.

After she fell just short, a number of Canadians watching reached out to Oleksiak to express their sympathies.

Oleksiak, though, wasn't having any of it.

(Instagram // TypicalPen)
(Instagram // TypicalPen)

On her Instagram story, she wrote:

Y'all don't be sending me "im sorry" messages !!!!!!! I came 4th in the freakin world and went a best time/ Canadian record against a field of 52 mid women !!!! I am not sad at all.

Time for me to warm down and get to it for the insanely strong 4x[100] medley team. P

Oleksiak seems to be handling the result just fine.

And after hearing this story from her father, Richard, it shouldn't be a surprise.

"I always think of a story when she was really little when they had a push-up contest with older kids," her father started. "So she was doing push-ups and she lost her balance and she broke a tooth, and she put the tooth in her hand and continued doing push-ups."

It's clearly going to take more than a fourth-place finish to shake the Canadian star.

Oleksiak still has one more chance to break the record in the women's 4x100m medley relay on Day 9 of the Tokyo Games. Canada will look to qualify for the final on Day 8.

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