At the Tokyo Olympics, Dressel produced a phenomenal performance to win five gold medals, but a year later he dropped out of the 2022 World Championships mid-competition for mental health-related reasons before taking eight months away from the pool. Dressel admitted to struggling with the weight of expectations and suffered panic attacks and anxiety.
In 2024, he improved at nearly every meet and reached his third Olympic Games in Paris, where he completed his comeback with two gold medals in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay and 4x100m mixed medley relay, and a silver in the 4x100m medley relay. His career tally of nine gold medals is surpassed only by Michael Phelps.
