As one of USA's swimming biggest names, all eyes will be on Caeleb Dressel when he touches down on the Olympic village at the 2024 Paris Games.
The seven-time gold medalist won't take part in his signature 100 M individual freestyle — he fell .06 seconds from qualification in the end. However, his quest for another world title will continue in the 4x100 M relay, where he and the Americans seek their third straight Olympic title.
It wasn't always like this for Dressel. He's been one of the best swimmers in the world for some time. But he hadn't always been at his mental peak when he was in the pool. Especially not in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here's what you need to know about Dressel's mental health struggles during his Olympic career as well as how he overcame them to cement his spot as one of the U.S.'s most-decorated Olympic athletes.
2024 PARIS OLYMPICS
Full Olympics schedule | How to watch in USA | Meet NBC's broadcasters
Caeleb Dressel mental health
Being tasked as the man to replace Michael Phelps wasn't an easy designation for Dressel to stomach. Following Phelps' retirement from international competition after the 2016 Rio Games, Dressel was thrust into the spotlight as the next's big thing in the 100 M freestyle, the event Phelps made his own during his glimmering career.
The pressure was heaped onto Dressel before he even took part in an Olympic race; Dressel's mother, Christina, detailed how his likeness was scrawled on the side of a building before 2021 U.S. Olympic trials in an appearance on In Depth with Graham Bensinger.
In that environment, Dressel felt destined to fail. His swimming logbook — a tool he used to great effect up to that point — became a labyrinth for his darkest fears and nightmares.
“Yeah, F— me, f—ing terrible. My body is done,’” Dressel read, per Sports Illustrated. “Oh jeez. … I know I’m laughing a little bit, but when you’re writing this, this isn’t as a joke. This is good information."
He had dealt with mental health issues before; Dressel struggled during his high school and college days, too. As a top swimming recruit and University of Florida commit, Dressel's future seemed bright. However, those labels brought with them expectations, ones that Dressel believed he could never fulfill.
Dressel began to have panic attacks. His mother thought they were heart attacks at first, saying he was "white as a ghost, slurring his speech and shaking.” Doctors eventually diagnosed him with anxiety.
“I didn’t want to do anything—wasn’t going to school, wasn’t swimming. [I] was pretty much just laying in bed for all hours of the day for a couple months,” Dressel said.
His family noticed, too.
“I was like, ‘Caeleb you have to get out of this dark room…’ He was just in a deep depression,” Christina Dressel said. “He just didn’t want to be around people … I think it was just a reminder of, ‘Great, I let this person down ’cause I didn’t get a world record.’”
