American swimmer Caeleb Dressel broke down in tears after he failed to defend his Olympic gold medals on Friday in the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle.
dresser —who has 8 Olympic golds— was favored to take the top spot on the podium at the Paris Games after taking gold in both events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He made the Paris Olympics final in the 50m freestyle but placed sixth in the race with a time of 21.61 seconds, more than 35 seconds behind Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, who took gold.
Less than an hour later, he was eliminated in the semifinals of the men’s 100-meter butterfly. Dressel came in fifth with a time of 51.57 seconds, more than a minute behind France’s Maxime Grousset’s first-place finish of 50.41.
That’s when photographers caught the 27-year-old Florida resident crying, perhaps overcome by the disappointment elite athletes often feel when they don’t perform at their best under extreme pressure.
Dressel won a gold medal in Paris in the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay with Team USA – the county’s first in the Games of the year – on Saturday.
Dressel nabbed one gold medal in the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 with a world record time of 49:45 seconds in the men’s 100m butterfly and set an Olympic record in the men’s 50m freestyle at 21.07.
