Aug 8, 2016
Stars' Oleksiak reveals what makes his Olympic star sister tick
Ahead of his younger sister Penny's silver medal-winning performance in the 100-metre butterfly on Sunday, Dallas Stars defenceman Jamie Oleksiak spoke with TSN's Mark Masters about his 16-year-old sibling's emergence as Canada's latest Olympics superstar.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Sixteen-year-old swimming sensation Penny Oleksiak is quickly emerging as the breakout star for Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games. On Saturday, she anchored Canada to a bronze medal in the 4x100-metre relay. On Sunday, she followed that up with a silver medal in the 100-metre butterfly.
The Toronto native, who is the youngest member of Canada's swim team in Rio, is part of an extremely athletic and talented family. Her older sister, Hayley, rows for Northeastern University while older brother, Jamie, is a defenceman with the Dallas Stars.
"We for sure pushed each other," Penny Oleksiak said when asked what it was like growing up. "My brother and my sister have both had my back since the day I started swimming. They've both taught me a lot throughout my five, six years of swimming. They're here today and just looking up in the stands and getting to see their reactions is a great feeling."
Jamie Oleksiak, who's seven years older than Penny, spoke with TSN on Sunday night shortly before the race began and shed some light on his sister's personality and why she's been able to have such success on such a big stage at such a young age. Here's a transcript of the interview:
Q. What's it like being in the stands, watching your sister compete in the Olympics?
Jamie Oleksiak: "It's just surreal. I feel like the biggest super fan right now watching her and I'm screaming and losing my voice. She's done such a great job and we're all so proud of her. We're all so proud to watch her represent Canada."
Q. She's still relatively young and has earned a bit of a reputation on the swim team as a free spirit, a joker. What is your take on her personality?
Jamie Oleksiak: "She's 16, she's still a kid, she's still going through those teen things and I think that's great for her, especially competing on such a big stage, because I don't think she thinks too much about it. She's just kind of enjoying herself. She knows it's just another swimming race. She's just enjoying herself and that's helping her compete."
Q. Do you have a favourite Penny story?
Jamie Oleksiak: "With Penny, there's always a story. There's always pranking or goofing around or something like that."
Q. Did she ever get you with a prank?
Jamie Oleksiak: "No. She's tried, but I'm pretty good. It's more my parents. She likes to rile them up a lot. She's pretty big on that."
Q. You're in the NHL, you have a sister rowing in the NCAA and now Penny's swimming career is exploding. What was it like growing up? Was there a rivalry? Was it competitive? What was it like?
Jamie Oleksiak: "Not too much rivalry. We were all kind of in the house at different times. I moved away when I was 14 and right around then was when Penny was getting into swimming. When we were younger it was friendly, nothing too crazy. Our parents did a good job making sure we always enjoyed what we did and made sure that would ever we did we were motivated and committed and they sacrificed a lot to help us achieve our goals."
Q. Are your Dallas teammates following Penny's success at all? Are they interested in what's going on here in Brazil?
Jamie Oleksiak: "Yeah, it's been fantastic, just the support all the way around, in and out of hockey from teammates to people I went to school with and people in the States. It has been phenomenal. I've have teammates send me texts wishing her luck and asking when the race is and keeping up with the results."
Q. What's the experience in Brazil been like so far?
Jamie Oleksiak: "It's been surreal. Being able to witness my first Olympic Games has been really special and, on top of that, my sister's competing, as well. It's been a great event for me. Being down here in Rio has definitely been a bit of a culture shock, but it's been really interesting. I think they've done a pretty good job running it and my whole family has enjoyed ourselves."
Q. A lot of athletes chose not to play in Rio over concerns about Zika and security. Did you have any reservations about coming?
Jamie Oleksiak: "Not really. I'm one of those guys who doesn't believe everything they hear. We actually took a couple health classes on Zika and what not and they told us it's not as big a deal as it's being made out to be and just be more aware, be smart, watch out for yourself and don't put yourself in risky situations."
Q. How has this Olympic trip affected your schedule in the lead up to the next NHL season?
Jamie Oleksiak: "The World Cup of Hockey has pushed camps back a little bit, so that was fortunate for me, so I could come down here for a week and just watch the Games. I found a gym here, so I’m still training. It just worked out well in my schedule that I could come here."