Team Speedo athlete, Caeleb Dressel already holds world records in 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 100m meter individual medley. This is an athlete who’s made waves the size of buildings and at Speedo, that sort of stuff gets our attention.
Although, for all these incredible accomplishments, whilst his mind’s always in the water his feet are still firmly on the ground. In part two of our deep dive, we continue to welcome Caeleb to Team Speedo and get to know him a little better. In this edition, we learn what making waves means to him and how this purpose keeps pushing him forwards.
“I really like that with swimming it’s simple and primitive and after a certain point, you really let your instincts take over. I think that’s why I’m still doing this sport. Yet, I use the words simple and instinct but I’m still trying to figure out so much with the sport!”
Talking with him for just a short time, it’s clear to see, Caeleb still absolutely loves to swim and watching his world record races, you can see that energy and instinct flow out of him so naturally. Out of the water though, that passion sits beneath the surface, in his forensic appetite for dissecting his technique which you can watch him do on his YouTube channel. He’s constantly committed to learning.
“You’re going to lose races but how you react to those races is what defines you as a swimmer… You learn a lot more in the valleys of the sport than you do the peaks.”
“To me, making waves feels like a very purpose driven life. I think, coming in every day with that purpose in the back of your head, focussing every day, in practise with a very goal-oriented mindset, I really think that’s what making waves is. It’s not about yourself at that point. It’s about that ripple effect. How is your purpose going to effect those around you?”
“When I walk into a room, I hope I put off an energy that people feel better about themselves and what their purpose is than before I got in the room and I hope I can showcase that with what I’m doing with my swim career. You might not have the best tools but if you really just commit yourself to something, obsess over something, dedicate your life to something, I feel like everyone on this earth is capable of something so, so great.”
In competitive sports, this philosophy is crucial to success and having this purpose so sharply in focus, helps Caeleb stay on course. The true definition of staying in your lane.
“I really see it as a race for self-improvement… It’s not about counting medals at these championships or anything like that. For me, I really feel like I have an obsession with just wanting to do better.”
“I don’t like comparing myself to other people. For me, as a competitor, it’s about being better than I was the day before, the race before, the year before…”
We definitely agree that the waves you make are there to be enjoyed, no matter their size. Stay tuned for our final deep dive with Caeleb, coming soon.
