“I really have been focusing on restoring the mentality I had before Rio de Janeiro,” Olekschak said, the water still dripping from her 6 feet 1 inch body.

“[Back then] I am very relaxed, I really don’t have any expectations, I just have a lot of fun in the swimming, I think I really have returned to that mentality now. “

Watch | McIntosh beats Oleksandr in the 200m final:

Even before this game, Oleksandr was ready to participate in the Olympics PreselectionBut every time she enters the swimming pool, she takes another step forward in the long journey of personal discovery.

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More from Tokyo 2020

Five years have passed since the then 16-year-old Toronto native broke into the sports world and became aware of the country. Unless you pay attention to the swimming world, you may have never heard of Oleksiak before the 2016 Rio Olympics.

That’s where she won four medals — the most medals Canada has won at the Summer Olympics — and became the nation’s youngest Olympic champion and flag-bearer for the closing ceremony.

At first, Olekshak was immersed in the compliments that followed.

Companies scrambled to ask for endorsements. It has appeared countless times. The side seat of the Raptors game. Even the interaction between Twitter and Drake.

But the transition from unnamed swimmers to celebrities quickly became too much.

“I knew the pressure would come after the Olympics, but I didn’t know how hard it would be,” Oleksandr told CBC in May.

She needs to make adjustments, said John Atkinson, the high-performance director of the Canadian Swimming Association. After all, he said, “When you are 15 or 16 years old, entering the Olympic year, and you are a relatively unknown person, you come in without any expectations except for your expectations of yourself.”

In 2017, Oleksandr suffered a concussion during training, in addition to sustained shoulder injuries. As a result, she failed to reach the podium in any individual event.

My mindset is that you must win. If you don’t win, you lose. You are a loser and you will never get better.-Penny Oleksiak

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, she again failed to win a personal medal. Then she skipped the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and did something she hadn’t done in a long time-take a break.

In the years after Rio de Janeiro, Olekschak said that she soon discovered that life at the top of the swimming world was difficult. The pressure is constant, sometimes even unbearable.

“I am expected to win every game. It feels like people are really watching me. I always do my best. No matter what I do, it’s not good enough for myself. I think it’s not good for others. That’s enough,” Oleksiak said in May.

Watch | Penny Oleksiak: The pressure of swimming champions:

Penny Oleksiak dominated the teenage years at the Rio Olympics in 2016, but paid the price for the pressure that came with it. She talked with Adrienne Arsenault about how to deal with stress and prepare for the return of the Olympics. 8:06

“My mentality at the time was that you must win. If you don’t win, you lose. You are a loser. You will never get better.”

She was refreshed and rejuvenated after returning from the rest. She participated in the first International Swimming League for most of 2019, where her team was Win.

Entering 2020, Oleksiak turned his attention to preparing for the Tokyo Summer Olympics before the pandemic halted the world.

“Last year, when [COVID-19] At the beginning, I was very nervous about the Olympics,” Oleksiak Told Reuters in March. “But I kind of accept the fact that [the postponement] It will give me a year to prepare, so I am very excited about this and I have really focused on doing my best. “

Olekszak said the pandemic allowed her to focus on life outside of the swimming pool. She is now 21 years old and no longer a young Canadian in Rio de Janeiro.

During the pandemic, Oleksiak moved in with her boyfriend and her best friend, doing things “we never had time to do”, such as enjoying food.

Watch | The pandemic may be the biggest challenge between Canadian swimmers and the Olympic podium:

Canada is in the golden age of swimming, and many medal contenders headed to Tokyo. But the epidemic may be the biggest challenge between them and the podium. 11:18

“I feel good. I finally came out from the other end of the pressure and pressured for the Olympics.”

Atkinson said Oleksandr “has a firm foothold” and seems to be ready to thrive in Tokyo.

“I think it’s a long journey. I think she is in a very good position.”

Oleksiak said that the Canadian team has worked tirelessly over the past year, ready to compete with the best teams in the world.

“No one knows what to expect from us. But hope they are impressed by what we did this summer.”