An American swimmer aiming for multiple Olympic golds – sound familiar?
But Caeleb Dressel is determined to ignore the comparisons with the most decorated Olympian of all time – Michael Phelps and his 23 golds, three silvers and two bronzes.
“You got people comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James,” Dressel explained to GQ Magazine in June.
“Look, I’m going to turn on the TV to watch LeBron. I don’t care if he’s better than Jordan. He’s amazing at what he does. Why does it matter if he’s better than MJ or not?”
Besides, Dressel says he is not aiming to beat anyone other than yesterday’s version of himself.
And, with “just” the two Olympic golds so far, he has a long way to go before he matches Phelps but the 24-year-old is favourite to win up to six gold medals in Tokyo.
He is competing in three individual events – the 50m & 100m freestyle, plus the 100m fly – and will feature in three, possibly four, relays.
The 100m freestyle starts on Tuesday, 27 July.
