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Caeleb Dressel will return to the Olympic stage as a changed swimmer and a changed man. Three years ago at Tokyo 2020, Dressel established himself as the new face of American men’s swimming with a superlative showing. Individual titles in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly accompanied twin relay glory to combine to make Dressel only the fifth American man to win five golds in a single Games.
By then, the Team USA star already had 13 World Championship titles; a medley relay world record on the final day in Tokyo was the ninth in his possession. A swimming superhero had fully established himself.
But the water has been choppy since. It was barely a fortnight after that Olympics that Dressel took a short break from swimming for mental health concerns, before parting ways with long-time coach Gregg Troy. A year later, Dressel entered the World Championships in Budapest expecting to contest nine gold medals and left, abruptly, with two, having pulled out of the Worlds just hours before the semi-finals of the 100m freestyle.
It would be eight months before he got back in the pool again.
“It’s never been my goal in the sport to aim for a bigger spotlight,” Dressel said ahead of Tokyo as inevitable comparisons with Michael Phelps came.
“If it was up to me, I just want to swim. I want to swim fast. I want to learn from the sport. I want to keep chasing those challenges that the sport offers day-in and day-out. … I’m not worried about the spotlight. I don’t very much care for the spotlight.”
Born near Jacksonville in Florida to a swimming family, Dressel soon burst to prominence as a high school star in the pool but gave up the sport for a time during his senior year due to “mental demons”. A devout Christian, his faith helped steer him back of the water, with his favourite passage Bible passage inspiring the tattoo of an eagle that drapes his left shoulder.
Part of two gold-medal winning US relay quartets at Rio 2016, there was no guarantee that Dressel would make a third Olympics. His return from his long pause last summer at the national trials was unencouraging, missing out on the World Championships to suggest his best days may be behind him.
But it brought a chance for more reflection on his Florida farm, Dressel finding a training method and, crucially, himself again. The arrival of his first child has brought focus, too. Stepping into the cavernous surroundings of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in June, Dressel carried with him a certainty and a clarity he had lacked since Tokyo — and perhaps that he had not possessed before.
The crowd at the home of the Indianapolis Colts was the largest for any swim meet in history, and Dressel’s long arms swept them up in a mutual, meaty embrace. After victory at the US trials, he will defend his 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle titles in Paris, no longer feeling the weight of the world on his broad shoulders but with a freedom that might well bring yet more success.
“I really feel like I’m loving this sport,” Dressel said during the national championships. “I’m not going best times. I haven’t gone a single best time, but just when I’m walking out, not even performing, feeling the love from everyone, it’s really special.
“There’s parts of this meet that I’ve had some very low lows. There’s parts that I have when I’m in my hotel room that are not on camera, talking to my wife, talking to my therapist. It has not been smooth sailing this whole meet. I know y’all get to see the smile, and I’m working on it. I’m trying to find those moments and really relish in them.”
