One of Canada’s most decorated Olympic athletes is already looking forward to competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Penny Oleksiak has confirmed that she intends to compete in the 2024 Games after the 21-year-old swimmer finished fourth in the women’s 100-metre freestyle final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Thursday night.
“I’m getting excited for 2024 and being able to represent Canada again and I’m honestly really excited for training for ’24,” said Oleksiak. “I’m going to take a little bit of time off probably and really just kind of get that motivation back again. And I think I definitely deserve a break after this Olympics for a little bit. But for the first time in a long time, I’ve been excited for training and I’m really excited to get back into training for ’24.”
The Toronto native missed the podium, and the chance to win a record-breaking seventh Olympic medal, by just seven-100ths of a second.
“I really wasn’t mad with myself because I knew I put everything I had into that race,” added Oleksiak. “I know this isn’t the end of the world. I know that I’m going to get better at it and hopefully for 2024 I can bring home the gold again.”
Oleksiak won the gold medal in the same event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she hauled in four medals overall.
She will have another opportunity to win her seventh Olympic medal and become the all-time record holder for most medals by a Canadian Olympian when she competes Saturday night (Canadian time) in the women’s 4×100 medley.
“I’m looking forward to having fun on that relay,” said Oleksiak. “I’m with some of the top swimmers in the world on a relay, and that, for me, is enough. And I’m excited to be on that team.”
While in Tokyo, Oleksiak has won silver in the 4×100-metre women’s relay and bronze in the 200-metre women’s freestyle to pull even with speedskater Cindy Klassen and speedskater/cyclist Clara Hughes for the most medals all-time by a Canadian Olympian, summer or winter, with six.
She also finished fourth in the women’s 4×200-metre relay event.
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