Caeleb Dressel, the defending Olympic gold medalist in both the 50-m freestyle and 100-m butterfly, broke down in tears Friday at the Paris Summer Olympics after a pair of disappointing swims in each event.
First, he missed the podium in the 50-m freestyle, finishing sixth. Then, less than an hour later, he finished fifth in his 100-m butterfly semifinal heat, a good two seconds behind the world record he set at the Tokyo Olympics.
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“It’s very obviously not my best work, but I had really a lot of fun. It hasn’t been the best week, don’t need to shy away from that,” he told reporters right before he learned that he wouldn’t be racing in another individual event.
“I’d like to be quicker, obviously, but it’s not my week and that’s alright. I was a good bit off my best right there, and felt like it. A lot went into this, just to be here, and I can get into that after the meet,” he said, before asking “Anyone know if I made it?” as the other semifinal race concluded and the fastest eight swimmers who qualified for the final were reported. “Probably ninth or tenth; anyone know? Didn’t make it? Tough day. Tough day at the office.” NBC cameras then captured Dressel breaking down in tears about missing the opportunity to race in another individual event at the Paris Games.
Dressel is the first to admit that he’s a very different man, and swimmer, than the one who dominated all of his races in Tokyo. At those Games, Dressel earned gold in every race he entered—three individual first place finishes and two relay titles.
Even with that success, however, racing, and the competitiveness required to remain at the top, was becoming a toxic burden for the three-time Olympian. In 2022, Dressel suddenly withdrew from the World Championships, citing health reasons. He later clarified that he needed time away from the sport for his own mental health.
For a while, it wasn’t clear whether Dressel would even race again, let alone compete in another Olympics. He took eight to nine months off from swimming and in February 2024, he became a father to son August with wife Meghan, whom he credits with helping him to return to competitive swim racing.
Juggling parenthood with elite training wouldn’t seem like an ideal combination, but Dressel has found a way to make it work. “It’s definitely a different routine, but that doesn’t mean that it’s bad,” he told oympics.com in July. A training partner of Katie Ledecky and Bobby Finke in Florida, Dressel didn’t start focusing in earnest on the Paris Olympics until 2023. He began building back his racing form and entered his first meet in December of 2023, gradually dropping times in order to qualify for several events at the U.S. Olympic Trials earlier this summer, including the 50-m freestyle, the 100-m butterfly and the 4×100-m freestyle relay, in which he won gold on the first day of racing at the Paris Olympics.
Dressel has one more race this Summer Games—the mixed medley relay on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters Friday after acknowledging the tough day, Dressel had one final message: “Let’s get ready for the relay.”