'She's like stormed the podium': Toronto is super excited for Penny Oleksiak

'A lot of kids are going to start wanting to swim, for sure there's going to be a lot more people signing up'

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Caption: Penny Oleksiak reacts after winning gold in the 100-metre freestyle. The young swimmer quickly emerged as the darling of the Rio Olympics for Canadians. (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

As the world watched 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak power her way back from seventh place at the halfway point to an Olympic gold medal win — the teen's hometown supporters collectively lost their minds with excitement at a bar in The Beaches.
The cheers were deafening.
Oleksiak had just made history by becoming the first Canadian to win four swimming medals at the same Olympics as she captured the gold in the 100-metre freestyle final.
"Her dream, she said, was to get to the Olympics," said Margaret Paul, whose daughter used to dance with Oleksiak. "So that was a dream come true just getting to the Olympics — and now she's like stormed the podium, it's crazy."

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Caption: Hometown supporters collectively lose their minds over Penny Oleksiak's Olympic gold medal win at a bar in the Beach

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Paul sat with a couple of other parents of teens who went to Kew Beach Public School with the young swimmer at The Stone Lion, a bar less than a block from the school in Toronto's east-end.
She remembers when Oleksiak quit dancing and a bunch of her other activities four years ago to focus solely on swimming. Then, at just 12-years-old, she says the girl was already dreaming of the Olympics.
"Who would have imagined that in only four years she would make that come true?" said Paul. "I'm very happy for her."
Oleksiak visited her old school to talk with the kids before she headed to Rio. Many of the parents are excited for her to swing by again with all her medals when she's back in the Beaches.

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Victoria Radounski can't wait to see what her fellow Toronto Swim Club member's accomplishments will mean for their sport.
"A lot of people are going to be inspired," said Radounski, at a poolside at the University of Toronto Friday morning. "A lot of kids are going to start wanting to swim and for sure there's going to be a lot more people signing up."
"That's a huge thing for our club here."

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Oleksiak's friends weren't the only ones celebrating last night. Mayor John Tory congratulated the local Olympian and said that she had done her city proud.
"I would like to do something for her as a city so all the people in the city can show their enthusiasm, their gratitude and their excitement about her magnificent performance," said Tory on Friday, although he added that the plans should wait until she's done competing.

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Even outside of Toronto, the 16-year-old is the talk of the games for Canadian Olympic fans and has many of them asking one question.

What did you do when you were 16?

The question was a Twitter hit as they celebrate the Toronto-native's incredible accomplishment.

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For those who haven't done the math, Oleksiak's age means that she was born in 2000 — woah.
On top of becoming the first Canadian to win four medals in the pool, she's also the first athlete born this century to win a Gold medal in an individual event and the youngest gold medallist in Canadian Olympic history.
And somehow, she's humble.

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Oleksiak won the gold Thursday night when she tied American Simone Manuel in a new Olympic record time of 52.70 seconds. Manuel also made history becoming the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event.
Despite all her record breaking wins at her first ever Olympics, Oleksiak still isn't done. She has the 4x100 medley relay on Saturday. So fingers crossed, the young swimmer could bring home more hardware for Canada.

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Caption: American Simone Manuel, left, tied with Canada's Penny Oleksiak for gold in the women's 100-metre freestyle at the Rio Olympics. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)