2 O
2 1In so many ways, those close to Dressel say he still
yearns to be the carefree Florida farm boy he once was
in Green Cove Springs. His intensity is undercut by an
endearing, childlike goofiness. But at age 25 he is differ-
ent now. And few things can change life more profoundly
than single-mindedly pursuing greatness only to achieve
it—which he did by hauling in the most gold medals of
any athlete at the Tokyo Games.
Dressel has been swimmer-famous for a long time, since
his mid-teens. His celebrity started to spread as an NCAA
record holder at Florida, then broadened further in 2017
as he became the electrifying successor to Michael Phelps
as the world’s best male swimmer. The ramp-up to Tokyo
placed him in a still-greater spotlight, which became a
global klieg light when he delivered spectacularly amid
huge expectations.
Gold medal No. 1: With his unparalleled speed off
the blocks, Dressel assumed the leadoff position in the
American 400-meter freestyle relay. After he staked
his teammates to a .26-second lead, Blake Pieroni,
Bowe Becker and Zach Apple followed up to put the U.S.
on top of the medal podium in 3:08.97.
Gold medal No. 2: Dressel’s first individual gold came
in the 100 freestyle, where he held off reigning Olympic
champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia by .06 seconds to
win in 47.02. After two relay golds in 2016 and the 400 free
relay medal three days earlier, this one was special to
Dressel, who was in tears on the podium. W hen he had an
emotional interaction on TV with his wife, Meghan, and
parents—all watching from Orlando, thanks to COVID-19
restrictions—America fell hard for Dressel.
Gold medal No. 3: Dressel’s finest swim at the Games
was in the 100 butterf ly final, when he broke his own
world record with a time of 49.45 seconds and staved off
a furious rally from Hungarian Kristóf Milák.
Gold medal No. 4: Dressel blew away the field in the
50 free, winning by .48 seconds. That’s a relative chasm
in the shortest event; the time differential between silver
and eighth place was a mere .24. Dressel became just the
third U.S. male to win three individual golds in a single
Olympics, joining Phelps and Mark Spitz.
Gold medal No. 5: Coming back in the same session
after winning the 50, Dressel swam the butterf ly leg for
a U.S. 400 medley relay team that was in danger of losing