When Caeleb Dressel was in school at Clay High, his mentor, Claire McCool was a math teacher. She was so influential to Dressel that he called her, 'Mama.'
Dressel was one of the biggest stars at the Tokyo Olympics, winning five gold medals. But the weight of that world crashed down on him in 2022.Even as he was claiming two victories at the U.S. swimming trials and setting himself up to collect another bounty of medals in"It takes a lot of work, and there's parts of this meet that I've had some very low lows," he conceded.
In his perfect world, he would do nothing more than hang out in Gainesville, Florida with his coach, Anthony Nesty, and a few of his best buddies, training and racing and pushing each other with no one else around. "I'm not Michael, at all, and I'm fine with admitting that. I struggled with it a little bit in the beginning, like, 'Oh man, these comparisons don't seem fair,'" Dressel said."I used to have a little shame that I'm not Michael, I probably never will be Michael. I'm very proud of the things I have done in this sport and will continue to do, but there will never be another Michael.
There's still plenty of work to do between now and the Olympics. Dressel's times at trials were well off his winning performances in Tokyo. The rivals he'll be facing in Paris have been going faster than him. He'll have to shave off a few more tenths to have a shot at gold. "I'm really good at racing," he said, a steely look in his eyes."You put me in a race, I will make it close, as close as I possibly can, even if I have to try to kill myself to get there."He clearly relished the chance to hang with up-and-comers like Thomas Heilman, who made the Olympic team in two events at age 17.
The rest of the American team is thrilled to have Dressel back among them. His presence alone could mean an extra medal or two in Paris.
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