'Phelps Huigyeja' Dressel Adds 2 More Gold Medals in 50m, etc... Olympic 5-Gold Medalist

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] 'Phelps' successor' Caleb Dressel (26, USA) won five gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

On the morning of the 1st, Dressel added two more gold medals at the Aquatics Center in Tokyo, Japan, the last day of Olympic swimming events.

First, Dressel won the gold medal in the men's 50m freestyle final with a time of 21.07 seconds. Although he did not break the world record of 20.91 seconds set by C?sar Cielo (Brazil) in 2009, he set a new Olympic record of 21.30 seconds, breaking the previous Olympic record set by Cielo at the 2008 Beijing Games after 13 years.

Dressel comfortably touched the pad 0.48 seconds ahead of second-place Florent Manaudou (France, 21.55 seconds). Manaudou earned his third consecutive Olympic medal in this event, having won gold at the 2012 London Games and silver at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. The bronze medal went to Bruno Fratus (Brazil, 21.57 seconds), who finished just 0.02 seconds behind Manaudou.

Later, in the men's 4x100m medley relay final, the last swimming event of this competition, Dressel swam the butterfly leg as the third swimmer for the U.S. team, contributing to a world record time of 3:26.78 and winning the gold medal. The U.S. team's time broke the previous world record of 3:27.28 set at the 2009 Rome World Championships by 0.50 seconds, ending a 12-year record.

Second place went to Great Britain (3:27.51), and third place to Italy (3:29.17).

Starting with the 4x100m medley relay team event, Dressel won gold medals in the 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and added two more golds on this day, becoming the first five-time gold medalist of the Tokyo Games. The only event Dressel missed a medal in was the mixed 4x100m medley relay, which was held as an official Olympic event for the first time, where he finished fifth. He stood atop the podium in all other events.

Dressel had already dominated world swimming by winning seven gold medals at the 2017 World Championships in Hungary and six gold medals at the 2019 Gwangju World Championships, being named the men's Most Valuable Player (MVP) at both events following Phelps' retirement.

At the Olympics, Dressel had only won gold medals in the team events?the 4x100m medley relay and mixed 4x100m medley relay?at the 2016 Rio Games. Through the Tokyo Games, he confirmed himself as the new emperor of world swimming and increased his total individual Olympic gold medal count to seven.