One of Caeleb Dressel’s goals over the past week was to tell himself swimming at the Olympics was no different than being at the world championships. Perhaps he thought that would make the grueling and ambitious schedule he had set for himself seem less like climbing Mount Fuji in a snowstorm.
Dressel ultimately failed in that endeavor — the Olympics are the Olympics after all — but made it to the summit all the same. The American is on top of the swimming world, and the five gold medals he's taking away from the Tokyo Olympics are proof.
Dressel won the final two on Sunday, setting an Olympic record of 21.07 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle in the first race of the day and wrapping up the swimming competition at these Olympics by helping the U.S. set a world record in the 4x100-meter medley relay with a time of 3 minutes, 26.78 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Centre.