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Penny Oleksiak throws shade at teacher who told her to stop swimming

Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak is seen during the ladies' 200m freestyle final. (Photo by Sergei Bobylev\TASS via Getty Images)
Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak is seen during the ladies' 200m freestyle final. (Photo by Sergei Bobylev\TASS via Getty Images) (Sergei Bobylev/TASS)

There's one high school teacher in Canada who's probably watching the Olympics and feeling like they goofed up right about now.

I say this because on Tuesday, Canada's most decorated Olympian, Penny Oleksiak, tweeted this:

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.

Talk about a freezing cold take!

And before all teachers feel attacked, just know that Oleksiak did not mean this as a slight on the profession as a whole, but just this one specific educator who gave her some objectively bad advice.

I can understand teachers advising students to quit unhealthy habits in order to dedicate more focus towards schooling, but telling someone to stop swimming, especially when they're extremely skilled in the sport, isn't a great suggestion.

Oleksiak is a seven-time Olympic medalist and has represented Canada at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. She has accumulated one gold, two silver, and four bronze medals across the two Summer Games.

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