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Caeleb Dressel on Team USA winning gold medal in 4x100 freestyle relay: 'It's just really special'

Chandler Vesselsby: Chandler Vessels07/27/24ChandlerVessels
team usa gold
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Caeleb Dressel closed things out with blistering speed Saturday to secure a gold medal for Team USA in the 4×100 freestyle relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The former Florida swimmer was the anchor for the team and sped his way to the wall, holding on to the lead to give the USA its first gold medal at this year’s games.

The team of Dressel, Chris Guiliano, Jack Alexy and Hunter Armstrong finished with a time 3:09.28 to emerge victorious. Australia finished second for silver as it came in 1.07 seconds behind the USA.

Dressel was seen hugging his wife and newborn son moments after the win with tears welling up in his eyes as the emotion came over him. It was the third time Dressel has been part of a Team USA relay group that won gold at the Olympics and his eighth gold medal overall.

However, it was the first time his son had been in attendance, adding some significance to this one.

“It was really special,” Dressel said. “My son getting to watch me win a gold medal is everything. That last 50, I just wanted to get a gold medal for these guys. I’ve had my moment in the sport and it’s time for these guys to have their fun. I did my part and it always takes a special performance. That was (Armstrong). I think he lost 10 years of his life for that. It’s just really special. That’s what we came here to do. That’s why it’s so tough to make a team and we won by over a second.”

Armstrong, an Ohio State alum, was the third leg and helped USA gain a big lead just before it was Dressel’s turn to take it home. He came through with a 47.50 split, making him the only member of Team USA to finish his portion of the race in under 48 seconds.

That gave Dressel a big head start as he closed things out. He actually finished 0.75 seconds slower in the heat than Australian swimmer Kyle Chambers, who led all of the anchor swimmers. Thanks to the big performance from Armstrong, however, it didn’t matter.

“I’ve always been one for relays, but every person on this team, including the prelim swimmers, we all have our job to do and we each did our job,” Armstrong said. “So that’s how magical things happen.”

Both Armstrong and Dressel also competed in the preliminaries, where Team USA recorded a time of 3:12.61 to qualify for these Olympics. However, for both Alexy and Guiliano, this was their first time competing in the Olympics.

They started off the race strong to set the tone and now find themselves as gold medalists for the first time as the USA will look to add more before the Games wrap up.

“It’s amazing,” Alexy said. “I think this relay is the excellence of Team USA. It’s an honor to be part of it with these guys here. I knew at trials it was gonna be really special and coming here in the first swimming Olympics, it’s just really special to be part of.”

Guiliano, a former Notre Dame swimmer, agreed as he credited his teammates for accomplishing the feat together.

“Just training with all these guys in the morning, they shot my confidence through the roof,” he said. “Being able to get behind the bus with those guys, it was just an immediate feeling of ‘we’re gonna do this.'”