Homecoming parade planned for Penny Oleksiak in Toronto

After four-medal haul in Rio, teen swimmer returns home leading Beaches neighbourhood’s roster of glory.
When 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak left for Rio de Janeiro earlier this summer she was a recent Grade 10 graduate at Monarch Park Collegiate near Danforth and Coxwell.
She will return later this week a four-time Olympic medallist, a closing ceremony flag-bearer, and a household name in Canada. To celebrate her achievements and those of her fellow east-end athletes, the Beach Village BIA is planning a homecoming parade and party for August 28.
“We’re very happy for all our east-end athletes and we’re super, super proud of (Oleksiak) because she grew up in the Beach,” said Johanna Carlo, a local chiropractor and Beach Village BIA board member.
“If these guys grew up in a small town like Cobourg, those guys would for sure close the streets down and have a celebration (and) we really operate in the east end like a small town within a big city.”
Other Beach-area athletes the BIA hopes to honour at the parade, which is still awaiting a permit, include — naturally — a beach volleyball player, Kristina Valjas, and a beach volleyball coach, Steve Anderson. That’s in addition to bronze-medal sprinter Aaron Brown, swimmer Javier Acevedo, and several canoers and kayakers from Kew Beach.
For Oleksiak, the parade will be an early indication of how her life in Toronto has been changed. Since scooping gold in the women’s 100m freestyle, silver in the 100m butterfly, and bronze medals in the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays, the young swimmer has become the face of Canadian Olympic success.
On Sunday, Canada Olympic chef de mission Curt Harnett officially announced Oleksiak as the country’s flag-bearer for closing ceremony. “All of a sudden she’s a superstar, overnight. For any 16-year-old that would be a big adjustment,” said James Knox, 65, who watched the ceremony with a few dozen locals in the Stone Lion pub near Queen and Woodbine.