Penny Oleksiak Named Canadian Athlete Of The Year
A Well Deserved Honour For The Young Olympian
No surprise here – swimmer Penny Oleksiak is the winner of the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s athlete of the year. The 16-year-old narrowly beat out Sidney Crosby for the honour.
Oleksiak won four medals at the Rio Olympics last summer, including gold in the 100-metre freestyle, making her Canada’s youngest ever Olympic gold medallist.
Penny tweeted her excitement about the award after her win was announced
This means a lot to me!! 💗🙏🏻🙏🏻 Thank you so so much https://t.co/DFfGZpGrqv
— Penny Oleksiak (@OleksiakPenny) December 13, 2016
Other finalists were Andre De Grasse, the sprinter who won silver and two bronze medals in Rio; golfer Brooke Henderson, one of the youngest winners of a LPGA championship; Paralympic swimmer Aurelie Rivard who won three gold and one silver medal in Rio; Milos Raonic, Canada’s highest ranked tennis player ever, and Olympic high jump champion Derek Drouin.