(Reuters) – Swimmer Caeleb Dressel said he does not want his life to change after he boosted his profile by picking up five Olympic gold medals in Tokyo.
Simply competing was his favourite part of the experience, which saw him win all three of his individual events — the men’s 100m butterfly and the 50m and 100m freestyle — plus two relay golds.
The 24-year-old sprint specialist now has seven Olympic golds to his name but he said it was the memories he made along the way that meant the most to him.
“The fun part for me was I got to be part of the race,” he said on chat show CBS This Morning on Tuesday after returning to the United States.
“Anybody would kill to be in my situation – an Olympic final, competing for your country, going for a gold medal,” he said.
“I don’t need that for me to remember what the fun part was,” he said, gesturing to one of his gold medals.
Asked if the medals represented a “life changing” experience, Dressel did not hesitate to say they did not.
“I don’t want my life to change,” he said.
“I liked my life before the Games. If I’m being honest, the sport was a lot more fun when no one knew my name.”
Next up for Dressel is a break from the pool and a romantic getaway with his high school sweetheart turned wife Meghan, who was seen enthusiastically cheering him on from Florida during the competition.
“Me and Meghan still haven’t taken a honeymoon,” he told Good Morning America.
“Maybe we’ll try to plan that.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Davis)
