‘Terrified’ Dressel signs off with five golds, and a spot with greats
US swim star Caeleb Dressel rejected comparisons with Olympic greats Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz after claiming his fifth Tokyo gold on Sunday, revealing he was “terrified” by the pressure to perform in Japan.
Dressel ended his Tokyo campaign with victories in the 50m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay to become only the fifth swimmer to win five gold medals at a single Olympics. The feat puts the 24-year-old—who also won two relay gold medals at the 2016 Rio Games—alongside Americans Phelps, Spitz and Matt Biondi, as well as East Germany’s Kristin Otto.
But the Florida-based speed demon said hauling in the records set by the sport’s legends was not his motivation.
“For me to have my little stamp on the sport, of course it’s special,” he said. “(But) I don’t want to take anything away from Michael, I don’t want to take anything away from Mark. I’m happy with how I did here. It’s not my goal to beat anybody in particular, it’s about achieving what I feel my potential is.”
Dressel said his overriding emotion was relief after a hectic final session in which he set an Olympic record in the 50m freestyle and then helped the US team smash the medley relay world record. He also broke his own world record in the 100m butterfly on Saturday with a time of 49.45s.
The American arrived in Japan with the swimming world abuzz at an ambitious schedule with the potential to turn him into the sport’s next superstar. Dressel said he found the Olympic stage more daunting than he expected. “The Olympics are different, I’ll admit that now and stop lying to myself,” he said.
“There’s so much pressure in one moment. Your whole life boils down to a moment that can take 20 or 40 seconds, how crazy is that? I wouldn’t tell myself this during the meet, but looking back it’s terrifying.”
Australia stun USA in women’s medley relay
Australia dethroned arch-rivals USA to win the women’s 4x100m medley relay gold.
The Americans were two-time defending champions but the Australian team of Kaylee McKeown, Chelsea Hodges, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell proved too hot to handle. They touched a new Olympic record time of 3:51.60s ahead of the US (3:51.73) and Canada (3:52.60).
Meanwhile, Simon Biles will compete in the balance beam competition, officials said on Monday, in what would be the U.S. superstar gymnast’s last chance for gold in Tokyo after pulling out of other events citing mental health issues. Biles, who shocked the world last week when she withdrew from the team and several individual events, has brought athletes’ mental health into the spotlight at a pandemic affected Games.