Penelope "Penny" Oleksiak (born June 13, 2000) is a Canadian competitive swimmer who specializes in the freestyle and butterfly events. During the 2016 Summer Olympics, she became the first Canadian to win four medals in the same Summer Games and the country's youngest Olympic champion, with a gold in the 100 m freestyle, a silver in the 100 m butterfly, and two bronzes in the women's freestyle relays (4×100 m and 4×200 m).

One year prior, Oleksiak had won six medals at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. She is the current junior world and Canadian record holder in the 100 m freestyle and 100 m butterfly, initially setting the records at the age of 15 while improving them at age 16. She currently shares the Olympic record in the 100 metre freestyle with Simone Manuel. Her success at the 2016 Olympics led to her being awarded the 2016 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete, the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's top female athlete for 2016, and the Canadian Press team of the year.

After learning to swim at a neighbour's pool, Oleksiak took up the sport at the age of 9 encouraged by her father. She had also taken up gymnastics and competitive dance. Oleksiak attempted to join several swim clubs in Toronto, but was rejected having trouble swimming the length of pool. She was eventually taken in by coach Gary Nolden at the Toronto Olympian Swim Team where she gained the foundation that started her swimming career. Looking back at how she began her swimming career at the Toronto Olympian Swim Team, Oleksiak said, "The coach there really helped me. He had a lot of faith in me. If I hadn't gone to that club, I don't think I would be where I am today." Within a year, a race by Oleksiak at the University of Toronto drew the attention of coach Ben Titley, who would go on to lead Canada's Olympic team. Extra investments came as data analytics division of Swimming Canada appointed Oleksiak, whose top FINA ranking at the time was 319th, as a possible Olympic medalist in the 2020 Summer Games. First indications of great potential for Oleksiak were identified when, six weeks after fracturing her elbow in a cycle accident, she was still able to win six medals at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. This included a gold in the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay; silver in her signature 100 m freestyle event; silver in the 50 and 100 m butterfly; a silver in the 4 × 200 m relay and a bronze in the 4 × 100 m freestyle events.

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