PARIS — Team USA swimming star Caeleb Dressel added two gold medals and a silver from the Paris Olympics to his hardware haul, bringing his career total to 10 Olympic medals with nine golds.
But the 27-year-old three-time Olympian acknowledges it wasn’t his best personal performance, finishing sixth in the 50-meter freestyle and, as the world record holder, not advancing to the 100-meter butterfly finals.
He also recognized that Team USA as a whole could have done better after winning just one men’s individual gold medal, thanks to Bobby Finke in the 1,500-meter freestyle, the last individual event of the meet. The American squad as a whole, however, still finished at the top of the swimming medal standings with eight golds and 28 total.
With swimming over, USA TODAY Sports sat down with Dressel on Tuesday to look back at his Games, discuss the future of American swimming, having his son, August, in attendance and what’s next for him, including looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.
Ten medals at this point: nine, gold, one silver. How would you rate your performance at these Olympics?
I think, as with everybody, there was ups and downs. I had some major disappointments. I don’t want to shy away from it, especially with my individual events. But proud of the past couple years. Coming off Tokyo, it’s…
