Penny Oleksiak's historic gold medal is inspiring young swimmers

It was a come-from-behind victory that no one expected.Toronto native PennyOleksiakwas in seventh position after turning at the wall for the final 50-metres of the100-metre freestyle finals on Thursday night.

As the country watched the final 20 seconds of the race Oleksiakdid the unthinkable and came from behind tocaptureCanada's first gold medal in the Rio Olympics.

EllaMclean, a 12-year-oldwho is competing with her BrandonBluefinsteammates at the Manitoba Summer Games inSteinbachFridaysaid it was incredible to seeOleksiaknever give up even though she was trailing in the race.

"It makes me realize more that even if you are behind 10 or 15 metres into the race that anything can happen," saidMclean.

"This is amazing, amazing for her, amazing for Canada, overall amazing and inspiring ," said 17-year-oldKelsey Wogwho swims with the Manitoba Bisons swim team.

Wog like Oleksiak is considered to bea role model for younger swimmers. Wog is aTrue Sport ambassador at the summer gamesafter winning gold in the 50-metre and 200-metre breaststroke and a silver in the 100-metre breaststroke at the Canadian SwimmingChampionships.

Wog says after 24 years without an Olympic gold for Canada in the pool, Oleksiak's incredibleperformance shows young athletes they can compete with the best in the world.

"It shows that Canada can be up there. We haven't been previous years, but we can be and we can compete with the best," said Wog.

Morgan Steffens-Benoit, 12, is currently competing at the Manitoba Summer Games. She practices 6 days a week with the Winnipeg Wave swim club and has pulled in 2 gold and 1 bronze medals at the Manitoba Summer Games.

Benoit says it is pretty special to be competing at her event at the same time the swimming events are happening in Rio.

"It kind of feels like a mini-Olympics in a way, because you know how they stay in hotels, we're staying in the same room as everyone," said Steffens-Benoit who is sharing a Steinbach hotel room with her team mates.

Steffens-Benoit didn't stay up to watch Oleksiak's race live but did watch all the highlights afterwards and said it is really impressive that someone so young has won four medals at the Olympic level already.

"It kind of just shows that it can happen and that it's a realistic goal," said Steffens-Benoit.

A handful of athletes at the Manitoba Summer Games will be trying to make Team Manitoba for next year's Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. The Manitoba Summer Games wrapsup Saturdaywith a closing ceremony that is free at 2:30in Steinbach.

Fans will have another chance to cheerOleksiakon for a fifth medal when she jumps back into the pool in Rio on Saturday for the4x100 medley relay race.