Dressel strikes his 1st individual gold
TOKYO – The men’s 100-meter freestyle Thursday at the Olympics had the look and feel of a prizefight, with heavyweights arriving from all over the world for a splashy two-lap sprint, just down the pool and back, for one of the most coveted gold medals of these Games.
When it was over, when 24-year-old American star Caeleb Dressel had outtouched them all to win the first individual Olympic gold medal of his illustrious international swimming career, he climbed upon one of the lane ropes and raised his industrial-strength arms in triumph.
The king of the world? At least for those few moments, yes, he absolutely was.
“Just trying to take in that moment,” he explained later. “I’m not going to relive the 2020 100 free finals ever again, so I want to take that in as much as I can.”
Dressel won the gold in 47.02 seconds, an Olympic record and the fastest time in the world this year. Australia’s Kyle Chalmers finished just 0.06 of a second behind, just a flick of a fingernail’s difference for silver, and Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov followed right behind for the bronze in 47.44 seconds.
Dressel calls himself “a bit of a weirdo,” a loner who cries “a lot.” This Olympic moment was so meaningful to him that he told himself he would never take it for granted. Perhaps no swimmer here has spoken about appreciating every second of this experience quite like Dressel.
Before he walked out on the pool deck, his eyes focused on the Olympic rings.
“I just tried to enjoy the moment,” he said. “I don’t want to surpass any moment because I’m used to it. I don’t want to get immune to the feeling that racing offers me, so I just wanted to really take hold of that moment and enjoy it. There’s people who would kill to be in the situation I’m in, lane 5 of the Olympic final.
“I don’t want to take that for granted.” His emotional journey actually started a bit earlier in the day when he watched Bobby Finke, a fellow University of Florida Gator, surprisingly win the gold medal in the inaugural men’s 800 freestyle.
“I was almost crying for him,” Dressel said.
Then Dressel won and the crying actually commenced.
There were tears of joy when he saw his family on an NBC livestream on the pool deck. And there were more tears on the medal stand as the U.S. national anthem played for him.
“I’m an emotional person, and that was the first time I’ve gotten to talk to them,” he said of the quick family video chat. “I can’t be calling them every night because, like I said, I cry a lot, so I can’t be calling them every night exerting that energy. It’s got to be put into my swimming.”
With his victory, Dressel earned the 15th gold medal in Olympic history in this event for the United States and the first since 2012, when Nathan Adrian won. Adrian finished third in 2016, and Dressel, the other American in the event, finished sixth.
His star has risen dramatically in the five years since. He still has up to four more events here: the 100 butterfly, the 50 freestyle, the men’s 4x100 medley relay and, almost certainly, the mixed medley relay.
With one relay gold and the 100 free gold already in his pocket, he could win up to six golds here.
However it turns out, he’ll then head home to Florida, where there will be plenty of time for celebrating – and definitely more crying.