21-year-old Olympic Gold Medallist Sends Crucial Message to High School Teacher who Said She Wouldn't Make it

21-year-old Olympic Gold Medallist Sends Crucial Message to High School Teacher who Said She Wouldn't Make it

  • A Canadian athlete identified as Penny Oleksiak has taken to social media to send a message to her high school teacher who said swimming would not get her anywhere
  • The 21-year-old lady is doing well for herself as she has won three medals for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics
  • According to Penny, most of her teachers saw her vision and encouraged her, but that particular one was always discouraging her

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A 21-year-old Canadian swimmer and Olympic medalist, Penny Oleksiak, has sent a message to her high school teacher who doubted her.

The young lady has won three medals for Canada at the Tokyo Olympics. She now has a total of seven Olympic medals to her credit, Fox News reports.

Penny Oleksiak has seven Olympic medals to her credit
Penny Oleksiak is one of the most decorated Canadian Olympic athlete. Photo credit: François-Xavier MARIT / AFP
Source: Getty Images

Penny, who is one of the most decorated Canadian Olympic athletes, said her high school teacher told her to stop swimming because it wouldn't get her anywhere.

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She wrote:

"I just googled ‘Canada’s most decorated Olympian’ and my name came up. I want to thank that teacher in high school who told me to stop swimming to focus on school (because) swimming wouldn’t get me anywhere. This is what dreams are made of."

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No shade towards teachers in general

The athlete, however, noted that she wasn't shading teachers in general, adding that her sister is also a teacher, New York Post reports.

She said most of her teachers saw her vision and pushed her towards it. According to her, the teacher who constantly dragged her down is the worst of all time.

Top 3 proud moments in the Tokyo Olympics for Team South Africa

The Tokyo Olympics were a bit of a bummer this time around with Team South Africa only collecting a few medals in the process.

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Even though some didn't win medals, the nation is proud of them. Briefly News takes a look at the top four highlights for South Africa in the Games.

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Stefan Mack avatar

Stefan Mack (Editor) Stefan Mack is an English and history teacher who has broadened his horizons with journalism. He enjoys experiencing the human condition through the world's media. Stefan keeps Briefly News' readers entertained during the weekend. He graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2010 with a Bachelor of Education (BEd), majoring in History and English. Stefan has been writing for Briefly News for a number of years and has covered mainstream to human interest articles.

Kelly Lippke avatar

Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.