TOKYO — Caeleb Dressel swam the first leg of the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay in lightning-quick time on Monday. He gave the U.S. a lead it never relinquished, and, less than an hour later, he stepped to a podium to receive his first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics.
Then he posed for some pictures, and stepped off the podium, and easily could have sauntered into interviews, hitched a ride back to the Olympic Village, and retired for the day with gold around his neck.
Dressel, instead, found 20-year-old teammate Brooks Curry in the Tokyo Aquatics Center stands.