Olympic rower Silken Laumann outdone on the water by a pod of orcas

It takes a lot to impress three-time Olympic medalist Silken Laumann on the water.

But a pod of orcas did exactly that wowing the Canadian rower by swimming within inches of her Vancouver Island dock in British Columbia on Saturday.

“We are freaking out with joy at the sight of these beautiful creatures off the end of our dock minutes ago,” Laumann posted on Twitter.

More than 115,000 people have now shared in that joy.

The video is 45-seconds of orcas being orcas at Henderson Point.

She’s lived there at Saanich Inlet for a decade and never seen a pod that close.

“Pretty wild,” Laumann adds.

Laumann’s sporting history is also pretty wild.

She shattered her right leg in rowing accident just 10 weeks before the 1992 Summer Games. But she came back after many operations and even more rehab to win a bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics in single sculls rowing.

The feat is considered one of the biggest comebacks in Canadian sporting history and happened 27 years ago almost to the day.

Laumann has long retired from competitive rowing, but she still gets out on the water.

In fact, you can see her boat on the dock in the killer whale video.

People have just been in awe of the sighting, including fellow Canadian Jann Arden.

The singer and actor tweeted to Laumann, “Just lovely.”

It’s been a heck of a summer for wildlife for Laumann.

Just a few days earlier she tweeted the birth of a seal.

“This baby was born on our dock!” she wrote. “Canada is amazing.”

It certainly is.

Photo Silken Laumann/Twitter

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Recovering newspaper reporter.

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