By Canadian Press

Swimmer Penny Oleksiak will carry flag into Olympic closing ceremony

Aug 21, 2016 | 8:45 AM

RIO DE JANEIRO — Star swimmer Penny Oleksiak’s list of highlights from the Rio Olympics is a long one.

She won Canada’s first gold medal at the Games, made a stunning four trips to the podium and even got a shout-out from Drake, one of her favourite rappers.

Oleksiak will cap her unforgettable Rio experience Sunday night by carrying the Canadian flag into Maracana Stadium at the closing ceremony. 

“I’m super honoured just to be able to carry the flag for Canada and lead all these athletes who’ve worked so hard to get here,” she said at a morning news conference.

Oleksiak will lead a Canadian contingent that has surpassed its goal in Rio of finishing in the top 12 in the overall medal count.

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Heading into Sunday, Canada had 22 medals — four better than the 18 won in London four years ago — and was 10th in the medal standings.

Oleksiak seemingly came out of nowhere to lead Canada’s swim team to six medals in Rio.

She started the haul by helping Canada win bronze in the 4×100 freestyle relay on the first Saturday of competition, then rocketed to silver in the 100 butterfly the following night. There was another relay bronze before she surged to gold in the 100 freestyle on the penultimate day of the meet.

The 16-year-old from Toronto said she has enjoyed some downtime after a very busy opening week.

“I’ve been sleeping and eating a lot of junk food, a lot of McDonald’s,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve just been trying to catch up with all of my friends that I haven’t talked to yet.”

Oleksiak became Canada’s most decorated swimmer at a single Games and appears on track to eventually become Canada’s most decorated Olympian ever.

Speedskater Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes, in both speedskating and cycling, are tied for the most career Olympic medals with six apiece.

Oleksiak’s coach, Ben Titley, said the sky is the limit for her if she wants it.

“If you want to be great, great is about being successful over a long period of time,” Titley said after the swim meet ended. “It’s not my role to put limits on anybody or anything. Anything is possible as long as you give it the time dedication and if you have the talent to excel at that, you’re capable of everything.

“It would be my intention that Penny actually become Canada’s most successful Summer Olympian. Why can’t Penny be the most medal-winning athlete in the history of Canada?”

Oleksiak became the expected pick for the flag-bearer honour early in the Games. Sprinter Andre de Grasse, who won three medals at the track, was among the other athletes considered.

“Many factors played a role,” said Isabelle Charest, Canada’s assistant chef de mission. “Obviously we’re talking about two extraordinary performances. One thing that probably weighted in favour of Penny is that it reflected the women’s domination throughout these Games. We wanted to show that.”

“Phenom. Phenom,” added chef de mission Curt Harnett. “How can you define that? Andre is that way too. It’s inexplicable.”

Soccer star Christine Sinclair carried the flag into the closing at the London Olympics four years ago after leading Canada to a bronze medal.

Gold-medal winning trampolinist Rosie MacLennan was the flag-bearer at the opening ceremony two weeks ago.

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With files from Canadian Press reporter Frederic Daigle.

Follow @GregoryStrongCP and @FredDaigle on Twitter.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press