Canada takes bronze in 4×100 swimming freestyle relay at Rio Games

On Saturday night, the former Canadian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist experienced a wide range of emotions as he watched the final 50 seconds of Canada’s historic bronze-medal performance in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay at the Rio Olympic Games.

The team consisted of Chantal Van Landeghem, Sandrine Mainville, Taylor Ruck, and Penny Oleksiak.

The 16-year-old from Toronto finished with a Canadian and world junior record time of 56.46 seconds to earn her second medal in as many nights.

The win was notable for a few reasons: it’s our country’s first medal in 40 years in this specific discipline.

If you can keep your head around all these people that you might idolize and have looked up to for years, and know that you have a chance to beat them, that’s the exact mindset you need to get to the podium. The 16-year-old Toronto teen moves a lot of water with her long limbs. “So many emotions were going through me”, she said. “I was just trying to catch my breath”, she said.

The youngest Oleksiak estimates she’s grown a couple inches in just the previous year. Ask Ruck to describe her teammates, and she feels. oh, let’s not say blessed, or bless up.

Oleksiak confirmed if her grades slip, Alison would put the brakes on training.

“(Penny) tells me what music to listen to”, Van Landeghem said.

Oleksiak leads a typical teenage life outside the pool “always on Instagram”.

“My friends, I think probably a year and a half ago, started telling me I should start a YouTube channel called “Typical Pen” because everything I do is so typical me I guess”, she explained. “And Sandrine, she’s awesome, she holds so well under pressure, and I really look up to that, and Penny, she’s just like my sidekick – no, not my sidekick, that’s wrong – my partner in crime”.

The men’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay also booked a berth in the night final.

Emily Overholt of West Vancouver, B.C., finished outside the top eight who qualified for the final.

Santo Condorelli of Kenora, Ont., Calgary’s Yuri Kisil, Markus Thormeyer of Newmarket, Ont., and Evan van Moerkerke of London, Ont., will compete in that final later Sunday.

Men’s lightweight fours – Brendan Hodge, South Delta, B.C.; Maxwell Lattimer, Delta, B.C.; Nicolas Pratt, Kingston, Ont.; and Eric Woelfl, St. Catharines, Ont., and men’s quad sculls – Julien Bahain, Sherbrooke, Que.; Will Dean, Kelowna, B.C.; Rob Gibson, Kingston, Ont.; and Pascal Lussier, St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., had their repechage races cancelled due to high winds.