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After Nearly Quitting Swimming, Caeleb Dressel Is Pushing Limits For Paris Olympics 2024

Published 04/21/2024, 12:24 PM EDT

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“F*** me. F*** my body. F*** swimming.” These were Olympic Champion Caeleb Dressel’s words for himself before the Tokyo Olympic Trials in 2021. Dressel was very judgmental of his own performances. In an interview with Graham Bensinger, Dressel accepted that he was “felt so lost”. Nonetheless, contrary to what one would expect, Dressel’s performances were astounding. He won five events: the 4×100-meter medley relay, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, and 50-meter freestyle.

Therefore, despite appearing low-spirited at one time, Dressel did the unthinkable. He carried on the responsibilities of his nation in the absence of the legend of swimming Michael Phelps. As per Forbes, the 27-year-old then took a 8-month hiatus from his favorite sport. But again defying expectations, what Dressel has done with ease throughout his career- he is back for yet another opportunity at the upcoming Paris Olympics. The journey in between certainly has been tough and emotionally draining to say the least.

Caeleb Dressel prepares for Paris Olympics 2024 with utmost vigor

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He recently announced that he would be participating in three events this year in the Paris Olympics 2024. While Dressel has qualified for three events, the Florida-born doesn’t like to look too far ahead.

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Offering us all a glimmer of hope into his possible Paris resurrection, he was quoted by Forbes –“Well, really, trial is the big one. I don’t like to make any assumptions, so I’m really excited for trials, which is in the Colts Stadium. So really excited to see what the pool looks like in person, and then hopefully for 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly my three babies, we’ll get up and boogie, and then we’ll be good to go to for Paris”.

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But his fans should not be disappointed since the Olympian has cut some slack. Regarding his participation, Dressel enunciated, Don’t think I’m going to do the 200 free. Who knows, something could change in the next couple months, but yeah, 100 free, 50 free, 100 fly.” This brought joy to his fans, who wanted the medley winner to show his indomitable character in team events too.

Caeleb Dressel’s sad for his rival

His 2024 season has only helped him track his potential, giving him various parameters to improve his timings. At the TYR Pro Swim event, Dressel swam his fastest fly of the season “I have been tracking very well this whole season. I have been really excited about where I am at, some of the fastest times I have gone, so yeah, I hope to carry the momentum up until the end.”

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Other than his personal accomplishments, the 2024 Paris Olympics is also going to be a highly anticipated event. Dressel’s competitor Kyle Chalmers will most likely have his last summer game. Though he hasn’t retired and will continue gracing future events however, it is unlikely that he will be a part of another Olympics.

Whether Dressel is able to outdo his opponent or not is a question for another time but it is certainly sure that fans will flock to the stadium in numbers and also glue to their television screens to watch the American champion.

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Written by:

Ritvan Pande

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Ritvan Pande is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He covers Perspectives and Classics as the expert in the longform coverage. Inspired by the fabled Chicago Bulls trio of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, Ritvan captures the staggering court encounters in the same competitive style.
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Edited by:

Himanshu Sridhar