TOKYO—With Penny Oleksiak putting in a clutch performance in a rousing final leg, Canada’s women’s 4x100-metre freestyle swim team won a silver medal on Sunday. It was the country’s first podium finish at these long-awaited, no-expectations Tokyo Olympics, where Canadian Olympic Committee officials have insisted the conditions of the pandemic have made it impossible to set a performance standard for Canada’s medal count. A lot of the credit went to Oleksiak, who entered the pool with Canada in fourth after 300 metres. When a Canadian team anchored by Oleksiak won bronze in the event in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, it was Canada’s first women’s swimming medal since 1996. For Oleksiak, Sunday’s performance came in the wake of an uncertain quadrennial, topped by a year’s COVID postponement, that followed her Brazilian breakthrough.

Source: thestar July 25, 2021 03:16 UTC