Just as the Canadian penny was slipping into oblivion, “Voilà!” a new Canadian Penny emerges. Our Olympian, Penny Oleksiak, turned our copper penny into gold. Naturally, Canadians instantly treasured this new Penny.
At Penny’s first Olympics, not only did she earn a Gold Medal, she amplified her gold performance by winning a silver and two bronze medals. By achieving the most medals at a single summer games she entered the Canadian Record Book. As if this were not remarkable enough at her first major international meet, she accomplished this feat at the ripe old age of sixteen. She was considered a late-comer to swimming at the age of nine and her coaches figured her first Olympics was to dip her toes and not to do swimmingly. No doubt Penny would be the first one to admit she did not accomplish this all on her own. Maybe family, coaches and support staff are equally deserving of Gold Medals.
Penny went from obscurity to everyone’s darling, not only in Canada but around the world. This extraordinary young woman led the Canadian women to great heights. One wonders what all was in place in her life that fostered such phenomenal results. Furthermore, the outstanding performance of the Canadian women begs the question, “How do we inspire young Canadians to be enthused about life and follow their passions?” Are there Olympic lessons to learn which can be applied to all of us? Would a closer examination of Olympians reveal attitudes and actions which could strengthen all our performances?
In the recent Maclean’s article, “The Best Ever” (Aaron Hutchins; August 29, 2016), Penny shares the fundamental reason why she likes swimming: “There is no noise. It’s very quiet. I like just having that silence.” Maybe Penny offers us this take-away from her life experience as a swimmer, the comfort and solace one can find in the experience of silence.
Would we not all do well to find, our own ‘pools’ of silence?
Sr. Loretta Hagen, csj, Sr. Magdalena Vogt, cps, Sr. Nancy Wales, csj