Dressel and Manuel thrill in return to Olympics swimming

PARIS -- THE ROAR FROM THE CROWD started as soon as Caeleb Dressel 's hands splashed through the water.

The 27-year-old had just dived into the pool at La Defense Arena for the anchor leg of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay with a nearly two-second lead over the rest of the field, and the large contingent of American fans in the building could sense what was happening. It was the last event of the first night of swimming at the 2024 Olympic Games, and for 47.53 thrilling seconds, all eyes were on Dressel in Lane 6.

As he neared the wall, all three of his teammates -- Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano and Hunter Armstrong -- circled around the starting block. They bent over with their hands on their knees, eyes focused on Dressel, and did whatever they could to will him on to the finish.

When he touched the wall, they too roared and raised their arms in triumph. From the pool, Dressel waved his arm to the crowd, encouraging even more noise. The fans obliged and Dressel seemed to soak it all in.

It had been a long road to his eighth gold medal, but it suddenly seemed to all be worth it.

Saturday marked a return to glory for Dressel, and he wasn't the only veteran on the American swim team for whom that was true. Simone Manuel , also 27, anchored the women's team to its fastest-ever time in the 4x100m freestyle relay , just moments before the men's race, and her late heroics held off China to secure the silver medal. (Australia took home the gold and set an Olympic record.)

Both Dressel and Manuel had spent extended time out of the pool in the three years since the Tokyo Games, and neither was sure if they would ever return to the Olympics, let alone to the podium. But both proved to themselves, their teammates and the world exactly what they were capable of -- and all of the struggles made the moment even sweeter.

"It feels good to be back here," Manuel said after the race. "I didn't know if I would ever be performing at this level again. So just to kind of have the full-circle moment of being on this relay again from 2021 to now, but just in a happier and healthier place, I think is really special."

AFTER HIS REVELATORY PERFORMANCE in Tokyo in which he won five gold medals, Dressel had cemented his status as the best male swimmer in the world. But in June 2022, after having already won two gold medals at the world championships in Budapest, he abruptly withdrew from the meet due to an unspecified medical issue.

While he never explained the reason, he spent the next eight months away from the pool and the public spotlight, prioritizing his mental health. He began practicing again in February 2023 and returned to competition last summer at the national championships. There he explained to reporters that stepping away was simply something he had to do.

"The easiest way to put it, my body kept score ," Dressel said. "There were a lot of things I shoved down and all came boiling up, so I didn't really have a choice."

But success wasn't immediate once he came back and he failed to qualify for the U.S. team for the 2023 world championships. He wasn't deterred by the setback, and continued to train at Gator Swim Club in Gainesville, Florida, and put in the work.

The struggles for Manuel, the first Black woman to have won an individual Olympic swimming gold medal in history, began before Tokyo. After a four-medal performance in Rio in 2016, she struggled to make the team in 2021 and earned just one medal -- a bronze for her role on the 4x100m freestyle team -- during the Games. A diagnosis of overtraining syndrome then prevented her from all physical activity for the next seven months after she came home.

"It's probably the most boring months of my life ," Manuel told The Associated Press in June. "I spent a lot of time talking about my feelings, what happened, processing what happened, because I think when you're in it, you're kind of in survival mode. I really needed to process it and come to terms with everything."

When she returned to training in 2022, she relocated from California to Arizona and began working with Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps , at Arizona State. She has credited him for helping her rediscover her love for the sport again.

Dressel and Manuel began to show signs of their former prowess earlier this year in competitions, but few knew what to expect from either at Olympic trials last month. However, both were triumphant, each winning the 50m freestyle and qualifying for the 4x100m freestyle relay team. Dressel also won the 100m butterfly. Neither could hide their emotions about making another Olympic team.

"It means everything to me," Manuel said through tears after booking her ticket as part of the relay team. "It's a miracle that I'm even able to stand up here and be able to race again. The people close to me know the journey it took to get here."

Their American teammates have found motivation from their stories as well. Gretchen Walsh, who won silver with Manuel on Saturday, called her a "true inspiration" at trials, and said that what Manuel has been through put things into perspective for her.

Armstrong, who swam the third leg of the men's relay, said knowing Dressel was up next helped fuel him to a dominant performance. "I knew I had to give Caeleb everything I had, and so I was glad I was able to get my job done," Armstrong said later.

For long stretches, Dressel and Manuel questioned their ability to return to the pinnacle of the sport but they left no doubt on Saturday. Despite spending less than two total minutes in the pool in qualifying and the final, that was enough time to make all of their hard work seem worth it and for the doubts to vanish. Manuel couldn't stop smiling as she walked out of the pool and fans shouted her name in admiration. The smile didn't seem to fade until long after she stepped off the podium.

Moments later, Dressel stood on the same podium -- albeit in the center position -- and he too had a similar smile plastered on his face. But all of the emotions seemed to come out once he was reunited with his wife, Meghan, and their 6-month-old son August, who had been watching from the stands. He didn't try to stop the tears from streaming down his face.

"My son getting to watch me win a gold medal is everything," Dressel told Melissa Stark on the NBC broadcast.