Drew Kibler's near-misses fuel drive for Olympic gold: 'That’s what I’m here for.'

INDIANAPOLIS – If there is a statement summarizing the swimming journey of Drew Kibler , it is this, from poet Robert Browning:

Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?

There have been so many times Kibler’s goal was barely out of his grasp. As he approaches Paris , this outcome is within reach;

To become the first Carmel swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal. Or any Olympic medal.

It might take a world record to do so in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, set for July 30.

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“That’s what I’m here for,” Kibler said. “I’m not here for anything less than that. That’s a huge goal, and it’s scary.

“It’s a massive undertaking. It’s something you have to respect. But it’s something I want, and I’m excited for it. And I know we have the guys to do it.”

In last month’s Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium , Kibler was third in the 200-meter freestyle. So although he became a two-time Olympian, he will not swim the individual 200 freestyle, which goes to top two.

The United States had never missed an Olympic relay podium until 2021, when Kibler and teammates finished fourth at Tokyo. Still stings. Still motivates.

Goal-setting, and re-setting, is the way Kibler has always approached this sport.

At a time no swimmer out of Indiana had made the Olympics in decades, he was aiming for that. Taking notice was Tony Young, executive director of Indiana Swimming , the organization overseeing clubs in the state. During an Arizona training trip, Young was sitting in an emergency room with Kibler, who needed treatment for an eye infection.

Kibler elaborated on his Olympic goal.

“You could just tell he was that kind of a kid,” Young said. “It was really clear in his mind, what he wanted.”

Carmel coach Chris Plumb has stated Kibler is in “this constant search of putting out that great swim.”

After Kibler’s college career at Texas, he returned to Carmel to train, and he made last year’s World Championships in the 4x200 freestyle relay. He left Carmel again last August to train at Arizona State under Bob Bowman, who coached Michael Phelps to a record 23 Olympic gold medals.

Kibler had a sitdown with Bowman. He told the coach he could be a contender to win Paris gold in the 200 freestyle. Pretty ambitious for someone ranked 15 ^th in the world.

“That was a goal that we had for the whole year,” Kibler said. “It was part of our taper plan to not put everything into trials so we could be even better at the Olympics. He was masterful year in and year out with Michael (Phelps).

“You could make an argument that we maybe played it a little too close with missing that individual. When it comes down to it, I have an opportunity to be a lot better, I believe. And if it means being on that relay, being so much better and giving everything I have so we can vie for that gold, I’m excited for that.”

Before chronicling Kibler’s misses, recount the hits.

He is Carmel’s first Olympian, first to win an individual NCAA title, first long course world medalist, first world gold medalist (from 2022). Also in 2022, he won gold in the 4x200 free relay with a world record at short course worlds. He won three medals at the 2019 Pan American Games, five golds at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific meet.

In high school, he was a national swimmer of the year, set national records in 50- and 200-yard freestyles, was a state champion in four different events.

Kibler is one of seven American men to have made global teams in each of the past four years. The others: Hunter Armstrong, Nic Fink, Bobby Finke, Chase Kalisz, Ryan Murphy, Kieran Smith. Only Fink and Kibler are without Olympic medals.

What might have been?

In 2017, a 17-year-old Kibler had a chance to be the youngest pool swimmer on the world team since Phelps, then 16, in 2001. Kibler caught poison ivy and didn’t make it. At junior worlds in Indianapolis, he capped the meet with a relay gold . . . but lost it because of a teammate’s doping offense.

Besides third places at the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Trials, he was third at the 2023 nationals. (In 2021, he was so ill that he was in bed two days before his first race.)

At 2022 long and short course worlds, he was fourth in the 200 free, out of the medals. He would have won another 2022 gold, in the 4x100 free relay, but arrived late to Budapest, Hungary, because of a positive COVID-19 test.

“There’s a time I’ve been very frustrated with, ‘oh my goodness, all these near-misses,’“ he said. “Although they are near-misses — and I think a lot of people would share the same — it’s hard to avoid that feeling entirely. For me, it’s best to ignore.

“What is the difference, really, between fourth and third vs. third and second? If I got third in that 200 free and got a bronze medal, well, I missed out on that silver or gold. It’s definitely something to add a lot of hunger. It’s something I keep in mind in training.”

After navigating one relocation in an Olympic year, Kibler had to do so again when Bowman left Arizona State to become coach at Texas, Kibler’s alma mater. Kibler reasoned transitions simply represent life as a pro swimmer, including stints of altitude training at Colorado Springs, Colo.

USA Swimming’s domestic training camp was at Cary, N.C., where former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski addressed the team. Plumb, an assistant coach on the Olympic team, said the swimmers internalized the message of putting team above self.

“There’s a good chemistry and energy around working together,” Plumb said.

Kibler has lived that. At Carmel. At Texas. At Arizona State, which won March’s NCAA title behind France’s Leon Marchand, arguably the world’s greatest swimmer.

Kibler is uncommitted on whether to continue another four years to Los Angeles 2028, or even another year.

Before that, he wants to cement Carmel’s self-described status as Swim City USA. If the British remain favored in the 4x200 freestyle relay, coming off last year’s one-second victory over the Americans, that adds fuel to what already is Kibler’s raging fire.

“It’ll make it even sweeter when we get in there and do what we plan to do,” he said. “We plan to be really fast.”

If fast enough for gold, it would be poetic justice in a career of so many what-ifs.

Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com . Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Drew Kibler's near-misses fuel drive for Olympic gold: 'That’s what I’m here for.'