Caeleb Dressel has come out speaking about his metal health after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
After competing in last summer’s Tokyo Games, Dressel said he ‘felt lost’. Even after dominating the discipline and walking away with five gold medals, it still felt inadequate.
“I [had] just won five gold medals on the biggest world stage in sports, and I’m thinking about how I wish I would’ve gone faster in certain events. And that’s not fair to myself. That’s not fair at all,” Dressel told journalist Graham Bensinger.
During his high school years, Dressel suffered from panic attacks due to his growing popularity in the swimming world. He also noted the spotlight leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Games had a different focus. Due to the absence of omnipresent superstar Michael Phelps, who retired after the 2016 Games, Dressel felt the added pressure being the world record holder on Team USA.
Many months after the games, on Christmas Day, he still had not gotten over the pressure in the lead up to Tokyo, nor regained the sport/life balance in his life.
“I just think the pressure built up,” Dressel said. “And then when it comes up, it just so happens that that certain point is when everyone wants to be in your business and ask, ‘how was the Games?’”
“I needed help with all this. Yeah. I need to talk to people more. I need to just be honest. I wanted to get away from the water, but then that’s also one of my safe places. So it was, again, a rock and hard place. Yeah, it was a pretty miserable couple months.”
After putting his five gold medals in perspective, Dressel says he feels like he was in a better place mentally.
“We’re vibing now,” said Dressel. “I needed the time I took off. It was longer than I would have thought, pre-Olympics.”
Dressel is currently competing in Greensboro, N.C. at the U.S. Swimming Trials. He has already qualified for the World Championships by winning the 100-meter freestyle in 50.01 seconds, securing the top seed by over a full second.
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