"Extremely rough time” – When Caeleb Dressel opened up about his mental health struggles and break from swimming

Caeleb Dressel had an extraordinary Tokyo Olympics run, winning five gold medals, something that every athlete dreams of. However, his journey to the Olympics was not as smooth as it appears.

The 25-year-old opened up about the dark times he went through on In Depth With Graham Bensinger. The five-time Olympic gold medalist shed light on his battle with depression and panic attacks due to stress related to international competition.

Caeleb Dressel faced mental struggles before and after the Olympics

The swimming champion revealed the struggles he faced earlier in his life. Dressel became the youngest swimmer to go under 19sec in 50m freestyle.

However, when he failed to record another best time in the finals, the swimmer could see the disappointment in the crowd. Speaking about the experience, Caeleb Dressel said:

“That was the first taste of like that expectation of, ‘Oh, you’ve done it once. He’s going to do it again.’ I just felt like entertainment at that point."

With all the spotlight and attention on him, Dressel suffered panic attacks, which made it more difficult for him to swim. Seeing him in that anxious pain, his mother thought he was having a heart attack.

Eventually, Caeleb Dressel decided to take a break for several months without any clarity about returning to the sport again. Speaking about the same, he said:

“It was an extremely rough time. I didn’t want to do anything—wasn’t going to school, wasn’t swimming. Was pretty much just laying in bed for all hours of the day for a couple of months."

This was disturbing for his mother, Christina, who recalled:

"I was like, 'Caeleb you have to get out of this dark room…’ He was just in a deep depression. 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.'"

Caeleb Dressel returned with a bang at the Tokyo Olympics and in the absence of Michael Phelps, the onus was on him to deliver. He not only participated in the event but finished it with five gold medals.

Despite his winning streak, Dressel was unhappy with his timing. He explained:

"I didn't hit any of my goal times in Tokyo. And that's not fair to me. That’s not fair at all. Like, I just won five gold medals on the biggest world stage in sports, and I'm thinking about how I wish I would've gone faster in certain events."

Following the Olympics, the swimmer felt so lost that he withdrew from the International Swimming League (ISL) competition. The stress also took a toll on his personal life. Speaking about the same, Caeleb Dressel revealed:

"It's been a really tough year I think for anyone's first year of marriage. You have to communicate, no matter how dumb it sounds. No matter how stupid it is."

Speaking about how withdrawing from the International Swimming League helped him, Dressel said:

"I needed the time I took off. It was longer than I would have thought pre-Olympics. I needed every little bit of those... we'll call it maybe two months."