“I felt so lost”: Caeleb Dressel talks about his mental health struggles after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
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Caeleb Dressel
25-year-old 7 time Olympic champion swimmer Caeleb Dressel said that the Tokyo Olympics took a major toll on his mental health.
Dressel said that he “felt so lost” in the months following the 2020 Olympics that he did not want to be a part of the International Swimming League competition, causing him to withdraw. He further revealed that he spent even Christmas Day in tears, as it took him over six months to find a balance in his life.
Caeleb Dressel talks about the importance of getting help while struggling with mental health
“(My mindset was), ‘I need help with all this. Yeah. I need to talk to people more. I need to just be honest. “I felt so lost. I wanted to get away from the water, but then that’s also one of my safe places. So it was, again, a rock and hard place. Yeah, it was a pretty miserable couple months,” said Dressel to usatoday.com.
Dressel, despite winning 5 gold medals said that he did not feel happy with his performance, saying that he could have gone faster in certain events. This did not sit right with him, as he felt dejected despite doing a good job. Dressel said he suffered from panic attacks as a senior in high school, as his profile in the swimming world and the expectations surrounding him began to rise.
Dressel is in a better position now though, he claims. “I needed the time I took off. It was longer than I would have thought, pre-Olympics.”
Also read: “He is a special athlete”: 15-year-old prodigy Thomas Heilman trailing second only to Michael Phelps
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Saivee Phatak
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