INDIANAPOLIS — While spotlights circled and music blared at the IUPUI Natatorium, Caeleb Dressel stood on the other side of a huge blue curtain—the quieter, darker side, away from the competition pool—and smiled. He stood where he’s never been as an adult Saturday night: on the periphery of swimming, after being a non-factor all week at the USA Swimming National Championships. The U.S. team for the biggest international meet of the year, the world championships, would be announced in a few hours. For the first time since 2015, Dressel wouldn’t be part of it.
And he was O.K. with it.
“I’m good,” Dressel said to a group of reporters in his first media appearance in more than a year, since he virtually disappeared from the sport. “I’m really good right now. Very indifferent about my results, kind of being pulled both ways. A little embarrassed, like, what just happened? But then also fully understanding of what just happened and the year I’ve had. I get it.
