Caeleb Reme Dressel of the US competes in the men’s 400-meter medley relay finals of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships 2018 in Tokyo. AFP TOKYO, Japan — American Caeleb Dressel is making swimming sexy again and has been described as the “Usain Bolt of the pool.”
But don’t call him the new Michael Phelps.
The 21-year old, who last year became only the second swimmer to win seven gold medals at a single world championships after Phelps in 2007, admits to being flattered by comparisons to his countryman but insists he is his own man.
“What an honor, if people want to make that comparison,” Dressel told AFP at the Pan Pacific championships in Tokyo.
“It doesn’t bother me, but it’s not something I’m striving to be or something that’s crossing my mind day in and day out.”
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Dressel joined forces with Phelps in the latter’s final Olympics in Rio two years ago to win gold in the 4×100 meters freestyle relay.
Phelps retired after Rio as the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 28 medals, a staggering 23 of them gold.
But despite being billed as the next big thing in swimming, Dressel was anxious to play down the hype two years before the 2020 Tokyo Games, where celebrity beckons for the tattooed Florida native.
“I’m a completely different swimmer to him,” said Dressel. “We swim way different events — the only time we really match up is in the 100-meter fly.”
“It was awesome watching him, there’s no doubt about that,” he added. “I remember Beijing, watching all of his races, he’s certainly someone that was just spectacular for a lot of people, even outside the swimming world.
“Our careers crossed paths for about a year, so it was cool and really an honor.”
Despite his protests, comparisons were made after Dressel broke Phelps’s old championship record to capture Pan Pacific gold in the men’s 100-meter butterfly on Saturday.
AFPAgence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835, AFP is the third largest news agency in the world, after the Associated Press and Reuters.
