'She's like stormed the podium': Toronto is super excited for Penny Oleksiak

As the world watched 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak power her way back from seventh place at the halfway point to an Olympic gold medal win — the teen's hometown supporters collectively lost their minds with excitement at a bar in The Beaches.

The cheers were deafening. 

Oleksiak had just made history by becoming the first Canadian to win four swimming medals at the same Olympics as she captured the gold in the 100-metre freestyle final.

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"Her dream, she said, was to get to the Olympics," said Margaret Paul, whose daughter used to dance with Oleksiak. "So that was a dream come true just getting to the Olympics — and now she's like stormed the podium, it's crazy." 

Toronto is crazy proud of the Beach's Penny Oleksiak

8 years ago

Duration 0:52

Hometown supporters collectively lose their minds over Penny Oleksiak's Olympic gold medal win at a bar in the Beach

Paul sat with a couple of other parents of teens who went to Kew Beach Public School with the young swimmer at The Stone Lion, a bar less than a block from the school in Toronto's east-end.

She remembers when Oleksiak quit dancing and a bunch of her other activities four years ago to focus solely on swimming. Then, at just 12-years-old, she says the girl was already dreaming of the Olympics.

"Who would have imagined that in only four years she would make that come true?" said Paul. "I'm very happy for her." 

Victoria Radounski can't wait to see what her fellow Toronto Swim Club member's accomplishments will mean for their sport.

"A lot of people are going to be inspired," said Radounski, at a poolside at the University of Toronto Friday morning. "A lot of kids are going to start wanting to swim and for sure there's going to be a lot more people signing up."

Oleksiak's friends weren't the only ones celebrating last night. Mayor John Tory congratulated the local Olympian and said that she had done her city proud.

Even outside of Toronto, the 16-year-old is the talk of the games for Canadian Olympic fans and has many of them asking one question.

What did you do when you were 16?

The question was a Twitter hit as they celebrate the Toronto-native's incredible accomplishment.

For those who haven't done the math, Oleksiak's age means that she was born in 2000 — woah.

On top of becoming the first Canadian to win four medals in the pool, she's also the first athlete born this century to win a Gold medal in an individual event and the youngest gold medallist in Canadian Olympic history.

And somehow, she's humble.

Oleksiak won the gold Thursday night when she tied American Simone Manuel in a new Olympic record time of 52.70 seconds. Manuel also made history becoming the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event.

Despite all her record breaking wins at her first ever Olympics, Oleksiak still isn't done. She has the 4x100 medley relay on Saturday. So fingers crossed, the young swimmer could bring home more hardware for Canada.