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Oleksiak Adds ‘Loonie Luck’ To Windsor Pool For SC World C’ships

16-year-old Penny Oleksiak made her mark on the 2016 Olympic Games, bringing home four medals to her nation of Canada. Among them was a gold as part of a stunning tie in the women’s 100m freestyle with American Simone Manuel, both of whom upset a stacked field including current world record holder Cate Campbell of Australia.

Organizers of the 2016 FINA World Short Course Championships to be held in Windsor beginning December 6th are hoping that Oleksiak’s luck will rub off on the newly constructed pol at the WFCU Centre. A lucky Canadian dollar coin called a loonie, from the year 2000 when Oleksiak was born, has been placed beneath the liner of the competition pool.

Peter Knowles, Executive Director of the Windsor organizing committee says, “We hope it provides all the luck we need both from a Canadian team perspective and from Windsor on the world stage.” This is the first time Canada has hosted the short course world championships event.

The ‘lucky loonie’ tradition has been a mainstay of the Canadian culture, including back in 2002 when the Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City. Team Canada’s hockey team beat Team USA in both men’s and women’s games for the gold after an ice crew embedded Canadian loonie under the faceoff dot at the competition site.

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Ben
7 years ago

Actually the lucky penny’s been a Canadian thing for years. This time, there’s also a penny from the year Penny was born.

Bill Bixby
7 years ago

A lucky loony ? How about a pretty penny ?

Brizz
7 years ago

And, probably more fittingly, a penny.

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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