Caeleb Dresselstarted swimming at age a young age — but as a form of childcare rather than out of his own personal interest.
Though Dressel grew up in the pool, he didn’t always want other kids to know about his favorite sport.
“I was super insecure in middle school; I didn’t tell anyone I swam because it wasn’t the cool sport to be doing,” Dressel admits. “I didn’t want anyone finding out that I wore a Speedo! I was super self-conscious about that. People would ask me like what sport I did — I mean, I was pretty tall — and I would lie to them.”
Courtesy Caeleb Dressel
Another thing the Florida native wanted to keep from his peers: the fact that he wore glasses. “I didn’t have the greatest vision and contacts were a lot more expensive back then, so I got put in glasses, and I just wouldn’t wear them,” he recalls. “I had the glasses, I wasn’t in a cool sport, I was super skinny, lanky, so, of course, that’s the perfect concoction for being a pretty big weirdo about yourself.”
The seven-time Olympic gold medalist came around in high school. “By that time I got to high school, I definitely started to respect the sport more — really started to obsess over it from a technical standpoint, a mental standpoint,” Dressel says.
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That obsession earned him a spot on theU.S. men’s swim team, with whom Dressel made his Olympic debut in 2016. Despite Dressel’s success with the sport, “I don’t think I’m ‘the guy’ in the sport of swimming, but people want to label me as ‘the guy,’ " he says. “I don’t see myself as that person because I know there are people out there with talent. I still have a lot left in this sport.”
Dressel recognizes he needs to prioritize his mental health if he wants to continue to perform atan Olympic level.
“That’s the biggest goal after coming back from Tokyo: being able to breathe,” the University of Florida alum says. “I think I overdid it, to be honest. I got great results, but I think it was to a fault. Because I drove myself crazy and I don’t think that’s fair to myself. I don’t want to end up leaving the sport early or hating it because I didn’t give myself time to respect the water and I feel like the water has always respected me. I would like to prioritize myself a little bit more instead of swimming.”
Peggy Sirota
Dressel’s favorite ways to indulge: Reese’s, Five Guys andGilmore Girls. “Megan started watchingGilmore Girlsand it’s so good,” he says. “So I’ve been tearing up someGilmore Girls.”
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“I really like Reese’s, that’s like usually my dessert with dinner,” Dressel says. “If it’s just one of those days where I get out of practice, I’m like, ‘Hey, I need to go to Five Guys. I need to get two burgers and a large fry and a milkshake.'”
Dressel knows that even with two Olympics appearances on his resume, he doesn’t have it all figured out just yet.
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source: people.com
