The Brits Behind The Canadian Revival Led By The Towering Teen Debut Of Penny Oleksiak

Canada is having a great meet, British coaches John Atkinson and Ben Titley the helm of an impressive raising of the game for a country that has struggled to get back to the golden days when folk three chairs across the deck at the Commonwealth Games in the heat of relay disqualifications that might decide whether Canadians were mightier in the water than Australians.

Many a long year has passed under the bridge since the days of Alex Baumann and the late Victor Davis and teammates in the 1980s and Mark Tewksbury in 1992. There have been signs of an upturn for a while but what a difference one swimmer – and several others stepping up not down when it counts – can make.

Going into the curtain-closing session, we find Canada at 7th on the medasl table with a gold, a silver and four bronzes. Impressive. Britain, too, is having a fine meet, with 1 gold, four silvers and no fewer than six frustrating fourths a slither off the podium and two of those behind the tow of an asterisk.

No denying the superpower: what a meet the United States is having, a theme we will return to. Australia, will finished second on the medaks in all likelihood, three gold atop eight medals leaning towards the good news of a better result than London 2012 but well shy of potential, so many of its big hitters having taken stage fright at just the wrong moment.

Therese Alshammar, courtesy of Arena

Penny Oleksiak by PBK

Hark the wise words of Therese Alshammar, in the fray yet at 39 racing in the 50m at a Games where a 15-year-old takes gold 16 years after the Swedish sprinter celebrated two silvers at her breakthrough Games. Alshammar once told me with a nod to the theme of age and experience:

“I don’t give it any thought. If anything it’s easier being younger because you have no experience. Experience can also be an advantage but so can inexperience, you can learn from inexperience because in youth you don’t think about anything. Later on you become more self conscious and you expect too much. That’s why you get big drops and then it stops for a reason. The mind-set is what stops faster progress.”

And so to Penny Oleksiak, the 15-year-old who notched up a Canadian-record four medals when she added to her brand-new vault the gold shared with Simone Manuel in the 100m freestyle. Not only a winner but a player in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history.

That race marked some serious firsts beyond those noted in our race report, such as:

Canada’s first gold of the 2016 Games, Canada’s first Olympic gold since Tewsbury in 1992 over 100m backstroke Canada’s first Olympic gold among women in the pool since 1984, when Anne …

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