Suffering From Mental Health Horrors, America’s Swimming Favorite Caeleb Dressel Signs Off World Trials With a ‘Positive’ Note: “Everybody Deals With It Differently”

Since he was 4 years old, Caeleb Dressel and swimming have been best friends. The 7-time Olympic gold medalist reigned as a supreme water sprinter for several years. However, last July, Dressel suddenly announced he was going on a hiatus from the sport. The reason? It was an undisclosed health issue and something the Olympian still has not opened up about. But now, the champion is back in the pool.

However, his performance reflects the break he took from competitive swimming. Unfortunately, Dressel was unable to qualify for the World Championships after a disappointing performance at the U.S. national championships held in Indianapolis. Although, the result does not come as a surprise, given the fact that it will take some time for the professional swimmer to get back into the flow. A fact that, according to Caeleb Dressel, he is comfortable with.

The swimming champion is content despite his loss

Caeleb Dressel has been a part of Team U.S.A. for the world championships since the year 2015. For the first time in almost a decade, this is not going to be true. However, Dressel seems to have made his peace with it. After being a non-factor all week at the USA Swimming National Championships, Dressel stood on the periphery of the crowd as the winners were announced. Surprisingly, he was smiling, at peace with the outcome.

The national championships were Dressel’s first major venture back into the sport since he virtually disappeared from it. While he described him not qualifying as “shocking”, Caeleb Dressel was definitely ready for the situation. According to a report by SI, he told the reporters, “I’ve always loved the sport and how fair it is. I’m proud of myself and the results, believe it or not.” The Olympic gold medalist made his last appearance at the 2022 World Championships in Hungary, an event he abruptly bowed out of. Dressel also spoke out about the stress he was under and the mental pressure that finally got to him, without revealing details about what went down in Budapest.

Read more: After Disappointing 29th Finish, US Swimming Favorite Caeleb Dressel Tastes First Victory With an Unexpected Reward

His coach, Anthony Nesty, described his time off from swimming as a mental health break. He told SI, “Mental health is a serious issue, and everybody deals with it differently. Sometimes it takes time to heal from that, and everybody heals differently.” In a move that Dressel describes as a “red flag”, he admitted that he pushed a lot of things inside, that finally came boiling out like water in a pot. Hence, the time out of the pool was necessary for him.

Caeleb Dressel is back from his ‘retirement’

When his coach saw the stress he was under, Nesty knew Dressel needed a break. As a 7-time Olympic champion, expectations were high when it came to Dressel, and Nesty understood that he needed to be completely cut away from the water to reduce the pressure. The eight months that Caeleb was out of the pool, he described as his “retirement”. It was an epiphany during mowing his lawn that made Dressel realize he was ready to go back. He describes the incident, saying, “It just popped in my head, if I never go back to swimming, I’m going to be O.K. That’s how I somewhat knew I was ready to come back.”

It’s definitely not an easy road ahead for the prodigal swimmer, but it looks like the icon is ready to handle the pressure. This year, Dressel came in 29th during the 100m prelims, a category in which he holds the American record. While his performance at the meet was not a reflection of the old Dressel, his coach is not worried. As Nesty said, “Mentally, he’s right where he needs to be. He’s happy, first time I’ve seen him happy swimming in a long time.” If that is true, soon, Dressel will be right where he was once before. After a few sessions in the weight room and constant practice, we got a potential Paris Olympics qualifier, don’t you think so?

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