American broadcaster slammed for ‘unnecessary’ act to USA swim star Caeleb Dressel

An American broadcaster has been slammed for “unnecessary” treatment of their star swimmer as he broke down in tears.

Caeleb Dressel was heartbroken after his two individual events.

America isn’t quite having the meet it wanted to in the pool at the Paris Olympics, and one man reflected the USA’s pain in heartbreaking scenes on the sixth day of action

Three years ago, Caeleb Dressel was the king of the pool in Tokyo, winning the 50m-100m freestyle double and the 100m butterfly — all in Olympic or world record times.

The following year he took an extended break from swimming to focus on his mental health, withdrawing midway through the 2022 world titles before making a comeback to qualify for his third Olympics.

Anointed as the successor to Michael Phelps after winning bulk world championship golds, America and the swimming world became used to Dressel winning every time he jumped in the pool.

But it’s been a different story in Paris. Dressel won gold in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, but didn’t get to swim the event individually as he finished outside the top two at US trials.

Snoop Dogg was in the stands cheering the relay on to gold with Dressel’s wife Meghan, who was holding her sleeping baby in hand, and the pair went ballistic.

Caeleb Dressel was disappointed by his swims. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

In a nightmare hour on Saturday (AEST), Dressel finished sixth in the 50m freestyle final behind Australia’s Cameron McEvoy who won gold — the first medal of any colour by an Aussie man in the one-lap dash.

Dressel then finished 13th in the semi-finals of the 100m butterfly to miss the final in a major surprise.

He was two seconds outside his own world record and may have been weighed down by his workload, having to swim in the morning heats of the 4x100m mixed medley relay.

In heartbreaking post-race scenes, the 27-year-old broke down on pool deck and cried into the arms of a Team USA staff member.

American broadcaster NBC’s cameras captured the moment, zooming in on Dressel. But many viewers thought it was unnecessary to keep the cameras on him for so long, at such a disappointing and emotional time.

Caeleb Dressel was heartbroken after his two individual events.

The US superstar let the tears flow.

One fan wrote on X: “NBC get the camera off of Dressel oh my god let the guy process in peace.

“Like there’s showing an athlete’s disappointment and there’s lingering for minutes on end come on.”

💔 to see Caleb Dressel’s heart breaking after not making finals to defend his Olympic championship 100m butterfly 🥺#gatornation is proud of you Caleb! 🐊#[e-mail]/Cx8gNMBAep

— Cyndi Chambers (@Cyndicha) August 2, 2024

A second said: “Is it really necessary to do a close-up of Caleb Dressel weeping as he realises he didn’t make the Olympic swimming final? He’s an amazing athlete, and an Olympic gold medallist. Give him a break and give him some space.”

A third said: “This man is one of the best swimmers in US history. He’s overcome so much physically, mentally, and emotionally. He’s allowed to be upset. One race doesn’t define his legacy.”

One viewer added: “It’s fine for grown men to cry. It’s fine for humans to cry. Weird and exploitative for the NBC team to zoom in and stay on Caeleb Dressel processing extreme emotions but it’s extremely normal to cry.

Another said: “Watching Caeleb Dressel right now is breaking my heart into a billion little pieces.”

Cam McEvoy is congratulated by Caeleb Dressel. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

A disappointed Dressel said: “I’d like to be performing better, but I’m not. I trained to go faster than the times I’m going. I know that. So, yeah. It’s tough, a little heartbreaking. A little heartbreaking for sure.

“It was very obviously not my best work … but the racing has been really fun here. Walking out for the 50 and the 100 fly, it was special. I don’t want to ever forget that. I’d like to be quicker, obviously. Not my week.”

Dressel will have a chance to add to his medal tally in the 4x100m mixed and 4x100m men’s medley relay.

He currently has eight Olympic gold medals with no silver and bronze, and will be looking to keep that perfect record intact.

So far in the pool, the USA have four gold, 11 silver and six bronze medals. Despite featuring on the podium plenty of times, there’s a sense they’ve left a few golds on the table.

Kaylee McKeown beat American pair Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff for gold in the 100m backstroke, and she pipped her great rival Smith in the 200m backstroke to complete the ‘double double’.

Spare a thought for Smith, who now has five silvers and a bronze but is still chasing that elusive Olympic gold, which she should get in the mixed and women’s medley relays.

Kaylee McKeown has the wood over her US rival Regan Smith (left). (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

SwimSwam’s Yanyan Li said: “Kaylee McKeown’s constant ability to win backstroke races on the highest stage, especially against Regan Smith who is arguably her biggest competition, is phenomenal.

“It’s crazy how these two swimmers are so close in time but their head to head record is so lopsided.”

McKeown, 23, now has five Olympic golds and four golds in individual events – the most by an Australian in history – moving past Ariarne Titmus, Jess Fox, Ian Thorpe, Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser and Betty Cuthbert — who all have three.

The 23-year-old will get a another shot at gold in the 200m medley. Titmus will go for gold against Katie Ledecky in the 800m freestyle and Fox will come up against her sister Noemie in the kayak cross event.