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Oleksiak’s journey to Paris a rocky one, but decorated swimmer is ready to battle

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Canada’s most decorated athlete learned the power of grace heading into her third, but perhaps not her last, Olympic Games.

Owner of seven Olympic swimming medals at just 23 years old, Penny Oleksiak’s three years since Tokyo threw two knee surgeries and a shoulder injury at her, limiting her ability to train and compete.

When she felt stuck, Oleksiak executed a rite of passage into adulthood by figuring out how to get unstuck. That involved leaving her hometown of Toronto.

“If I had to sum it up in one word, it would probably be ‘unexpected,'” Oleksiak said. “I’ve had a very trying last couple years and a lot of things happening back-to-back.

“It’s been a really different experience for me. I’ve learned a lot about myself in the last few years, how much patience I have and how to give myself grace in a lot of situations.”

Oleksiak didn’t qualify for an individual event in Paris. She’ll be deployed in relays starting with the women’s 4 x 100 freestyle Saturday.

“It’s been hard definitely to wrap my head around the fact that I’m not competing in an individual event, but I’m still competing in quite a few events,” Oleksiak said. “I’m still aiming to do some really impressive things, and training really hard to be able to do those things and contribute to the team as much as I have in the past and see what impact I can have.

“I’m always looking at it through a really realistic lens of, as an athlete, my goals are always to be on the podium. I don’t think that’s going to change at this Olympics.”

Her seven medals are the most won by a Canadian Olympian. Oleksiak’s been a relay gamer throughout her career.

She anchored the 4 x 100 freestyle relay to silver and the medley relay to bronze in Tokyo after a pair of relay bronze medals in Rio in 2016.

All nine of her world championship medals — the most by a Canadian swimmer — are in relays.

At 16, Oleksiak won gold in 100-metre freestyle and silver in 100-metre butterfly in Rio. She was a bronze medallist in the 200-metre freestyle in Tokyo.

“For the first time at this Olympics, I’m going to have that little bit of alleviated pressure, because I think when you’re on a relay and you’re surrounded by other girls, it really does take that pressure off, and you don’t feel as lonely when you’re in the ready room,” Oleksiak said.

She moved to Mission Viejo, Calif., in 2023 to join a group of international pro swimmers coached by Jeff Julian. She’d been training out of Toronto’s Pan Am Sports Centre since the age of 15.

“I really needed a change of scenery,” Oleksiak said. “Spending a year at the centre with my injury was really frustrating for me. It felt like I was stuck. I kept wanting a different result, but not doing anything differently to get that result.

“I’ve been really lucky with the support team I have out in California for my training. I’m surrounded by really amazing and talented people who are really good at what they do. I’ve had people helping me non-stop literally all the time. I’m surrounded by the best of the best people at rehabbing these kinds of injuries, the best people at researching these injuries.

“This is one of the first times that I’ve felt like, ‘OK, I have confidence when I do get injured in knowing I’m going to be able to come back.'”

That has Oleksiak thinking Los Angeles in 2028 when she was once sure Paris would be her final Olympic Games.

“It’s really made me want that longevity out of my career,” she said. “Through my injuries, a lot of people told me ‘you don’t have to do this. You’ve achieved a lot, you could retire.’ I was just like ‘I hate that people are saying this to me. I hate that people think I don’t want to do this.’

“Through my injuries is really when I found that motivation in knowing that I really wanted to do something.”

Ontario leads all provinces in the 338 athletes named to the Canadian team with 141.

Oleksiak is among Olympians such as teammate Maggie Mac Neil and sprinter Andre De Grasse supported by Quest For Gold, which is funded by the Ontario government and Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation. Oleksiak has been a recipient for a decade of a program that’s delivered $151 million to athletes since 2006.

“Without that financial support, I don’t think I would have been able to pursue swimming as much as I have,” she said. “Growing up, it really helped me a lot being able to go to swim meets that my family wouldn’t have been able to pay for or been able to go to training camps otherwise.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2024.

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Brian White scores second-half goal, earns Whitecaps 1-1 draw with Dynamo

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HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.

Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.

Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.

Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.

Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.

Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.

Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.

The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.

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AP MLS:

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First career goals by Tom Pearce, Nathan Saliba rally Montreal to 2-2 draw with Revolution

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.

“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.

“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”

New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.

The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.

Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.

“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”

Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.

“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”

Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.

Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.

New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.

New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.

The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.

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AP MLS:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Adolis García’s home run backs Cody Bradford as Rangers beat Blue Jays 2-0

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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.

The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.

García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.

“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”

Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.

The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.

“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”

Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.

Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”

“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”

Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.

Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.

Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.

“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.

UP NEXT

Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.

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AP MLB:

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