Caeleb Dressel

I love the sport, it brings a lot of obstacles that are hard to overcome.

I'm not like a social butterfly or anything, but I just miss seeing even my friends.

As soon as the whistle blows, something triggers me.

I like to learn.

I'm pretty over swimming, guys.

Everything I do in the gym translates to being a better swimmer.

I like to race. I like to compete.

I don't I don't really care what people expect me to do at these Games. It's all about me. It might sound a little selfish, but it's what I want to accomplish and reaching my potential. Everything else, everybody else's opinion, they can kick rocks.

I hate wearing shirts.

I always look for the bad. There's plenty to improve on.

As a 17-year-old kid, people put you on this podium, and it seems like you're just a source of entertainment for people. I felt like I was swimming for other people and they'd never be satisfied.

Whatever other people expect me to do, whatever they're comparing me to, I don't care. I'm just trying to swim fast.

One thing I learned from my older brothers is there's two sides to everything.

During the race there's only so much you can do. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen.

I pick and choose when I like to have my moments.

You go your whole life for one moment that boils down to a race that lasts a couple seconds.

I think simple's good. That's why I enjoy swimming. It's very primitive, very simple.

I don't want to end up leaving the sport early or hating it because I didn't give myself time to respect the water and I feel like the water has always respected me. I would like to prioritize myself a little bit more instead of swimming.

I get to do the fun part which is racing. I get to enjoy the race... I don't need a piece of medal to remind me of that.

Swimming's been a part of my life very much so since around age 4, and I never really dropped it.

It's just me and the water, and I'll share the water with my teammates.

I take each event, and I have to learn from it.

It's really special for me just to have that one little moment where I claimed I was the best in the history of swimming.

I've kind of developed an attitude where sometimes you've got to relax and you've got to go with the flow.

I don't want it to be easy, I really don't.

I don't very much care for the spotlight.

It's not my goal to beat anybody in particular, it's about achieving what I think my potential is.

You don't want to show anything, any behavior giveaways that your competition might see, right?

For me, it's about swimming faster. Anything that's not pertaining to swimming faster is irrelevant to me.

I don't think I'm 'the guy' in the sport of swimming, but people want to label me as 'the guy.'

I was super insecure in middle school; I didn't tell anyone I swam because it wasn't the cool sport to be doing.

You become Team U.S.A. when you're teaching some of the girls to play poker or you're getting food someplace in Hawaii together. It's the stupid little moments, it's not the big moments that are caught on cameras, it's the stuff you guys don't see. And that's what makes this team so unique.

I'm really good at hiding my emotions.

Fifth place is unacceptable for U.S.A. Swimming. It stings.

I can't do anything about what other people expect me to do.

Being on the podium, of course, is enjoyable, but the majority of what - not just myself, not just swimmers, I think the majority of all athletes - it's not necessarily fun, the core of the whole process.

I understand people's interest in my career.

For me, it's just kind of a chase for self-improvement in and out of the water. That's why I do enjoy the sport.

Just because it's bad doesn't mean it's not worth it.

If my parents are at the meet, I'll try to look and just kind of spot them out in the stands.

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?

If you don't have to worry about money or how you'll travel to a swim meet, that's so nice to not have that stress. You can just train.

When I got out of the water in my old routine, I'm just looking for any food in sight to just stuff in my body - just very, very hungry.

The goal is not to count medals, it's just racing the best I can.