Penny Oleksiak is Canada’s greatest olympic athlete with 7 medals to her name already at the age of 22. With all that Penny Oleksiak has done so early in her career, it’s astonishing to think how many medals she could have when she’s done. Along with being the most decorated olympian, she is an inspiration to Canadian’s worldwide and especially to young girls that aspire to be competitive athletes. For her to get to where she is today required a lot of character on her part. Below are some of the many lessons we can learn from Penny Oleksiak.
Believing In Yourself
Shortly after her competitions during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Penny Oleksiak tweeted a sarcastic thank-you to her former high school teacher.
Her teacher told her that she couldn’t make it as a swimmer or build a career out of it. Oleksiak would of course go on to prove her former teacher wrong. To do so, she had to have unwavering belief in herself. She couldn’t allow her teacher’s opinion or anyone else’s derail her dreams. When others doubt you it can cause you to doubt yourself, but Penny Oleksiak managed to maintain confidence in herself despite it. Whether you are pursuing sports, a career, or any endeavour, doubt can creep in and it can be fueled by others. To overcome this doubt and achieve success, you have to be mentally tough and prevent your confidence from wavering.
Persistence
Like Michael Phelps and many others, Oleksiak started swimming competitively at a young age. She learned how to swim at the age of 9 and tried out for some competitive teams shortly after. However, she was actually cut from the teams she tried out for as the coaches didn’t think she was good enough to make it. Despite this, Oleksiak stayed persistent and would eventually join an Olympian Swimming School in Scarborough that was open to beginners. She would go on to improve and grow a lot as a swimmer with the help of great coaching. By the age of 12, Oleksiak would become a prominent swimmer and start to break youth records. During her youth swimming career she was persistent in the face of failure and her persistence led to eventual success. If Oleksiak had just given up on her desire to swim competitively after failing to make competitive teams, she would’ve never known her true potential.
Love of Her Craft
Oleksiak truly loves what she does. You can see the passion and joy that she has when competing. She especially loves underwater swimming and has said that she enjoys the peace and quiet that comes from it. When you truly love what you do, success comes naturally. It’s easy to grow and become talented at something when you feel genuine passion and joy for it. So many athletes play for the wrong reasons, but the most important reason to play is simply for the love of the sport.
Learn to Swim or Join Swimming Camps
Penny Olesiak learned to swim at a young age, and you can too. She started learning at a young age and was able to compete at a young age and realize her potential as a result. You may have untapped swimming potential that you will never realize if you don’t learn to swim and develop the right habits early on. Not only do we provide swimming lessons, but we offer kids a chance to extend their learning further through our swimming camps. To learn more about our swimming lessons and camps, click on the button below.
