American swimmer
Caeleb Dressel won his fifth gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday,
finishing one of the greatest performances in the history of the Games.

With his fifth
gold, Dressel joins the league of legends such as USA’s Michael Phelps, Mark
Spitz and Matt Biondi, as well as East Germany’s Kristin Otto, as the only
swimmers to win five golds at the Olympics. Michael Phelps has achieved this
feat three times.

Dressel’s fifth
gold medal came from the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay. The US team won
finishing in 3 minutes and 26.78 seconds eclipsing the mark they set at the
2009 World Championships in Rome in rubberized suits where they timed 3 minutes
and 27.28 seconds.

Earlier in the
same session, Dressel won the 50-meter freestyle for his third individual title
of the Games. He also swept the 100-meter freestyle race along with a
world-record triumph in the 100-meter butterfly.

The 24-year-old
swimmer from Florida actually had a chance to win six medals at the Olympics,
but Team USA’s poor performance in the inaugural 100-meters mixed medley spoiled
that. USA finished fifth in the race. “Fifth place is unacceptable for USA
Swimming,” Caleb was quoted saying after the race.

Dressel was born
on August 16, 1996 in Green Cove Springs, Florida. He is the third of four
children born to Christina and Michael Dressel. All four Dressel siblings are
competitive swimmers.

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Caeleb Dressel’s swimming
career began with the 2012 United States Olympic Trials where Dressel was the
youngest male swimmer at 15. The next year, Dressel won six gold medals,
including one in the 100-meter freestyle, breaking the Championships record.

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At the 2016 Rio
Olympics, Dressel won is first gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay. In
the final, he swam the lead-off leg in 48.10 (the second-fastest opening leg in
the field) and was followed by teammates Michael Phelps, Ryan Held, and Nathan
Adrian. The American team recorded a time of 3 minutes 9.92 seconds.