Leading from the start, Caeleb Dressel of Team USA earned his first individual medal, a gold, in the 100-m freestyle at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on Thursday.
Dressel was second off the blocks with a reaction time of 0.60, just behind South Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo. From there, he never gave up the lead, holding off Kyle Chalmers of Australia, who earned silver, and Kliment Kolesnikov of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) who touched the wall third. Dressel’s time of 47.02 seconds set a new Olympic record.
Dressel’s gold was the second of the session for the U.S., after Robert Finke touched the wall first in the 800-m freestyle. Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger also swam for silver and bronze, respectively, in the 200-m butterfly, capping off the most successful day at the pool for Team USA swim team in Tokyo so far.
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Dressel is a proud Florida native; the unmissable sleeve of tattoos that cover his left arm is a homage to his home state and includes oranges, orange blossoms, magnolias and three “spirit animals” all native to the state—the bald eagle, bear and alligator. And of course, on the other arm he’s inked the Olympic rings, from his last trip to Rio in 2016.
Four years ago, Dressel finished sixth in the 100-m freestyle; in Tokyo he set a new Olympic record on the way to winning gold.
He’s been referred to as the next Michael Phelps, given that he may take home as much hardware as Phelps did in Beijing — eight golds — if he swims in the relays that are available to him. At the 2019 World Championships, Dressel became the first swimmer to win eight medals at a single championships. While Dressel doesn’t swim as many diverse individual events as Phelps, he’s dominated the shorter freestyle and butterfly events, smashing Phelps’ world record in the 100-m butterfly at the 2019 World Championships. Dressel will have a chance to drop his own record time even further on July 31 in Tokyo.
Tokyo is Dressel’s second Olympics, and already he’s taking a leadership role for Team USA after being voted one of four captains. “I have a lot of pride as team captain,” he said during training camp in Hawaii before the Games started. “I want to make sure I do it correctly and don’t rush my way through.” Dressel said he looks to Nathan Adrian, Olympic gold medalist in the 100-m freestyle, as a role model. “When I was climbing the ranks of the swimming world, I thought I was supposed to hate the guy,” he said, “because we both swam the 100-m free and he was faster than me. But when we started competing at the same level, I realized this is a true leader. I don’t dislike the guy, I want to be like this guy. He left behind, figuratively and literally, big shoes to fill. I hope to carry into this meet and share with the guys what Nathan left behind.”
Dressel is following in Adrian’s footsteps in other ways as well. Adrian got married in 2018, and recently became a father. Dressel married his high school girlfriend on Valentine’s Day but never missed a practice despite the joyous occasion. Dressel admitted that the past year, when pools and gyms locked down, training was more challenging. And without a normal schedule of racing, it was even harder to find motivation. “There were points I didn’t know what I was swimming for,” he said.
The lack of fans has also made the races in Tokyo lack the urgency that meets normally do, though teammates in the stands have been trying to make up for the missing spectators with noisemakers and encouraging cheers. Still, it always helps to have reminders of home and Dressel always has one in his swim bag behind he blocks—a blue bandana belonging to his former high school teacher, who died of cancer in 2017.
Speaking about his win Thursday, Dressel got emotional. “It’s a really tough year; it’s really hard,” he told NBC. “So to have the result show up, it really came together so I’m happy.”
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
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- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
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