Canadian swim star Penny Oleksiak denies drug use, says she’ll keep training despite 2-year suspension

A two-year suspension from competitive swimming has forced Penny Oleksiak to answer questions about drug use, train by herself in public pools and defend her legacy as Canada’s most decorated female Olympian.

It’s a legacy she is determined to continue at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics despite the penalty she must serve.

In an exclusive interview with CBC Sports, the 25-year-old Toronto athlete, now based in Los Angeles, denied she has ever used performance-enhancing drugs, and said that the suspension handed down on Nov. 25 was merely the result of scheduling oversights.

“It’s never been me to do performance-enhancing drugs or even think about doing performance-enhancing drugs,” she said.

But she does accept full responsibility for the predicament she finds herself in.

”First and foremost, I’m sorry that this happened. It wasn’t something I ever wanted to happen. It wasn’t something I ever expected to happen. I did do something wrong at the end of the day, and it’s something that I do have regret around,” she said. 

Oleksiak was suspended in late November by World Aquatics for what the organization terms “whereabouts” violations — essentially Oleksiak was not where she said she would be for her daily 60-minute availability window for testing.

She said despite those missed test, she gets tested often throughout the season. 

WATCH | Explaining a ‘whereabouts’ failure:

Explaining whereabouts rules for athletes after swimmer Penny Oleksiak’s ban | Hanomansing Tonight

Olympic multi-medallist Penny Oleksiak has accepted a two-year ban from competitions due to three whereabouts failures. Her former teammate Brittany MacLean Campbell, host of The Ready Room on CBC Radio, discusses the rules and shares her perspective on the violations.

“They show up at your house to do bloodwork and urine tests and everything. And in between those three tests that I missed, I was being tested on various occasions, whether at meets or at home,” Oleksiak added. 

Oleksiak said she wasn’t even sure if she had one or two strikes against her when the third missed test came into play. 

“After I had missed my second test, I hadn’t been given a concrete answer on if it was a missed test or not until after I had missed my third one,” Oleksiak said. “At that point, it was kind of like getting both of [the violation notifications] at the same time.

“There is a bit of a waiting period from when you have the test to when you have to report about it and tell them what happened. It is kind of a waiting game.”

Sitting inside a boutique gym just off Melrose Avenue in downtown L.A. on a warm Wednesday afternoon, the seven-time Olympic medallist said her failure to update her whereabouts was simply a series of mistakes — and not because she was trying to avoid being tested.

Oleksiak works out at a gym in Los Angeles, where she now trains. (CBC)

“The picture is kind of painted that way because a whereabouts violation, which is what happened to me, gets automatically put under an anti-doping violation,” she said. “I guess it’s not as exciting as people would want it to be or expect it to be. You have one year where you can make three mistakes, and that’s kind of a long period of three schedule changes.”

Athletes must submit their whereabouts for testing 90 days in advance, and there is an app they can use to make changes should their schedule change.

“Ideally they want you to update it a minimum 24 hours before if you do have something changed,” she said. “It’s just genuine mistakes is really all I can chalk it up to. It is frustrating knowing that I have that responsibility and that I wasn’t able to pull it to the standards that I normally would.”

The three tests she missed happened between October 2024 and June 2025, the third and final one coming a month before the world aquatics championships in Singapore for which she qualified as a member of Canada’s team at Canadian trials in June.

Oleksiak eventually withdrew from the world championships because she’d been made aware she had missed three testing windows. If she had competed at the championships, all of her results — including relays that would have affected teammates — would have been nullified once the penalty was confirmed.

As for the circumstances that led to missing the three tests, Oleksiak wouldn’t go into specifics but did hint at some of the causes. 

I was out doing some work obligations and woke up one morning a few days after my birthday and I had missed a call and I knew right away what it was.– Penny Oleksiak

Oleksiak said her second missed test came last February when she decided to go training in the morning instead of the afternoon. She had set her hour check-in for the morning. A doping officer came to her specified location and she was not there. 

The third missed test came just days after the Canadian swimming trials in Victoria, and her birthday was the next day. She turned 25 on June 13.

She left after she was done competing and flew to Montreal for the weekend. 

“I was called up to do some stuff for work. I have made a really big point to try and make money outside of just my swimming career and support my swimming career, and it’s something I kind of have to do to be able to support what I want to do,” Oleksiak said. “I was out doing some work obligations and woke up one morning a few days after my birthday and I had missed a call and I knew right away what it was.”

WATCH | Oleksiak wins 50-metre freestyle at swim trials:

Oleksiak swims to 50-metre freestyle victory at Canadian Swimming Trials, Ruck 2nd

Penny Oleksiak’s time of 24.89 in Monday’s 50-metre final at the Canadian Swimming Trials gave the Toronto native a victory in Victoria.

Oleksiak has faced criticism in the past about how important swimming is to her. Some have pointed to her social media, appearing at different functions, charity events and on vacation, suggesting she isn’t taking swimming seriously. 

Oleksiak was quick to shoot down any notion she hasn’t worked hard enough in the sport or focused enough on it. 

“Swimming is always my No. 1 priority. It’s always what I’m focused on. It’s always what I’m doing even now. It’s all I’ve ever known my whole life,” Oleksiak said.  “I would just say, don’t believe everything you see on the internet. My days are literally just training and recovering. I’m constantly in the gym, I’m constantly working out, I’m constantly swimming. 

“But I think through my career, that’s something that I’ve always struggled to navigate, is feeling like I’m able to prove myself to people.

For the people that feel like I haven’t reached my potential and I could have done more with my career if I was more focused, I just don’t know what to say to that. At the end of the day, I’m one of the most decorated Olympians in Canada. And so I’m kind of like, what?– Penny Oleksiak

“For the people that feel like I haven’t reached my potential and I could have done more with my career if I was more focused, I just don’t know what to say to that. At the end of the day, I’m one of the most decorated Olympians in Canada. And so I’m kind of like, what?”

Oleksiak sprang into Canadians’ consciousness at the 2016 Rio Olympics when she won four medals, including a gold, as a 16-year-old. She won three more medals five years later at the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and competed last year at the Paris Olympics, although she didn’t win a medal.

Oleksiak said the two-year suspension has been daunting and did make her question her future in the sport.

“When I first got the information, there was a part of me that was like, should I just call it, you know, is this my sign to just end here and go find something else to do?” Oleksiak said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy path forward. But that’s also something I’ve kind of been used to. My whole career is not taking the easy path.”

She acknowledged this will all be very challenging, but Oleksiak hasn’t allowed herself to wallow in the wake of the penalty.

“This feels like another little reset for me. I’m so excited to be able to show Canadians and even the world where I really am at the best point in my career while still being at the worst point in my career, essentially,” she said. “And all I can do is just get stronger, get faster, and that’s all I’m really striving towards at this point. 

“I have that passion and I know I have that drive and this isn’t something new for me. I spent a year and a half rehabbing an injury and going to Paris 2024, and now I again have that year and a half to train. But I’m not injured this time. This time I can just put my head down.”

Oleksiak, in pool, is congratulated by teammates, left to right, Maggie Mac Neil, Sydney Pickrem and Kylie Masse after the foursome won bronze in the 4×100-metre medley relay at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It was Oleksiak’s seventh Olympic medal. (The Canadian Press)

Oleksiak is now trying to navigate what a new training environment looks like despite the many limitations the suspension presents. 

“I can work with people to really get to a position I want to be in, and it’s a position I felt like I was in at world trials. My 100-metre freestyle felt good. My 50 freestyle felt good. I felt like I was moving in a direction that was good for me.”

As motivated as she is right now, training will mostly be done in isolation, away from the resources and team support she’s used to having.  

“It’s pretty difficult. I think you don’t know about it until it happens to you, and you don’t really realize the repercussions of it until it happens to you,” she said. “I’m not allowed to have a coach. I’m not allowed to train with my teammates — I live with some of them and I hang out with some of them.

Oleksiak, right, and the CBC’s Devin Heroux in Los Angeles. (CBC)

“I now am just kind of isolated. It’s definitely difficult. But I’m trying to find little ways around it that is fulfilling to me, still get in the pool where I’m able to by myself and getting to train with my trainer and I’m trying to make the most of it as much as possible.”

As part of Oleksiak’s suspension, she is not permitted to train at a private or club pool, leaving her searching to find space at public pools in Los Angeles. 

“I just go to public lanes and pools by myself,” she said. “It’s hard because you don’t have your team there. There’s something about grinding with your teammates and getting a hard session done and having each other there. 

“Even though it’s such an individualized sport, there’s something so special about being able to put in that work with other people and have that competitive feeling in a training session.”

Her suspension will end about a year out from the 2028 Olympics and Oleksiak believes it’s a realistic goal for her to be there with her Canadian teammates. 

“I’m really, really excited for L.A. I moved to California to be able to get a lay of the land and to be able to feel comfortable,” she said. “I’ve never felt so supported in my career by the people I have around me, and I can only anticipate and expect good things to come from L.A., and I’m just so excited.

“I think the peak of Canadian swimming is going to be L.A. 2028. We have so much talent coming up and such an exciting team and I just can’t wait to be a part of it.”