TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian R&B artist Drake invited fellow countrywoman and four-time Olympic swimming medalist Penny Oleksiak to one of his concerts on Saturday after her tweet about missing tickets sparked a Twitter campaign to allow her to attend. Oleksiak won her country’s first gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games on Thursday with an impressive performance and is the first Canadian to win four medals at a single Olympic session. She is the sister of Jamie Oleksiak, a defenceman for the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars. Her post about missing tickets spawned the hashtag “#GetPennyDrakeTickets”. “So @Kjmasse (teammate and bronze medalist Kylie Masse) and I tried to buy tickets to see @Drake to celebrate. Basically sold out #ugh #maybenexttime,” Oleksiak tweeted on Wednesday. Drake, who like Oleksiak is from Toronto, responded with a photo of Oleksiak on his Instagram account and wrote, “We are so proud of you!!!! Can’t wait to see you at a show from Rio!” The Globe and Mail reported, citing an anonymous source, that Drake plans to give Oleksiak free tickets to his Toronto concert in the fall. A publicist for Drake declined to comment. Oleksiak did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Ethan Lou in Toronto; Editing by David Gregorio)
