Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel complete their comeback and book trips to the Olympic Games in Paris

Just after noon on Wednesday, August Dressel was out on the streets of Indianapolis. August, just four months old, was being pushed in a stroller by his mother, Meghan, while aunt Sherridon Dressel walked beside him. August sucked on his pacifier in the Midwestern heat, unaware of what was hovering over his father.

Caeleb Dressel swam for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team after two years away from the sport and then coming back. Becoming a father was part of that journey, perhaps the kind of life development that can distract a man from being his own harshest critic.

Simone Manuel has also experienced a big change in her life in the last few months: she got married. She too had been in physical and mental difficulties in recent years and was not sure whether she would ever be a good swimmer again.

On an electrifying and emotional night at Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday, Dressel and Manuel returned. There were tears, from Manuel on the podium and from Dressel as he held and kissed August. There were smiles at a mission accomplished at least in part by two 27-year-olds who bear the scars of their unkind sport.

At another time, it would have been a major disappointment for the American record holders in the 100-meter freestyle to finish third (Dressel) and fourth (Manuel) in that event. But not now. They are both third-time Olympians and navigating a purgatory that remains partly mysterious.

They are still capable of top performances and can still make their fans cheer. The largest crowd ever to attend an indoor swimming competition, 22,209 spectators, showered them with cheers.

“Realistically, this sport was a very lonely place for me,” Manuel said. “I think after Tokyo (2021) I felt even more lonely. … Being in that arena and being surrounded by those fans was honestly so healing.”

Manuel spoke eloquently about her journey back from the overtraining syndrome that left her a shadow of her former self at the Olympic qualifying meet three years ago. She fought her way to a spot on the team in the 50-meter freestyle, then retired from the pool for five months to rest. She changed coaches, trained with Bob Bowman at Arizona State, and then painstakingly and gradually worked her way out of a deep hole.

“I definitely think there were moments during the process where I thought: why do I do this? I can think back to certain competitions and results I had in those competitions. When I go home on Sunday, I think, “I really don’t want to go to training on Monday. I’m just not ready to go back because I didn’t make the progress I wanted.”

“I think there have been a lot of ups and downs on this journey, but I don’t think I ever had the option to give up. I don’t know, going through the trials of 2021 was a tough journey, so I felt like I had some kind of armor in some ways to get through it.”

Dressel did not speak publicly at all, as he has done for nearly a year. The men’s press conference for the event’s top four finishers – Chris Guiliano, Jack Alexy, Dressel and Hunter Armstrong – was canceled late Wednesday, reportedly because Alexy was held up during a drug test. (Shortly after the interview was canceled, he was outside the venue signing autographs, so that’s interesting.) But Dressel wasn’t going to show up anyway.

Since his collapse at the 2022 World Championships in Hungary, he has been withdrawn, abandoning competition after two events and not swimming for months. He has undergone therapy to cope with what was tormenting him.

Here in Indianapolis, Dressel attempted to make a comeback at the U.S. Championships last summer. His lack of training took its toll and he didn’t even come close to making the team. But it was a start, as he gradually put the pieces back together.

Dressel returned to competition this spring and stayed that way through competitions in March, April and May. When he arrived in Indy, he was a pretty much spitting image of his old self – no longer Peak Caeleb, but once again one of the fastest men in America.

In the 100m freestyle final on Wednesday evening, Dressel was, as usual, first to reach the 15m mark, where swimmers must break the surface. He slipped back to fourth place at the turn, but caught up rapidly in the final meters and almost caught first-place Guiliano and second-place Alexy. With his time of 47.53 seconds, Dressel was just 0.15 seconds behind Guiliano. It was also his fastest time since 2021, when he won five gold medals in Tokyo and dominated the sport.

The top six runners all finished under 48 seconds, and the collective performances in the 100 freestyle bode well for the United States in the 400 freestyle relay. The American men are under fire from competitors from around the world, but they can plant their flag early in the Olympic calendar with this relay.

“Oh my God, top six under 48!” Dressel shouted on NBC as he looked at the scoreboard to see the race results. “That’s fast.”

Then Dressel almost left the pool deck without doing what all Olympic athletes are determined to do: sign the oversized Paris postcard. Guiliano had to grab him and remind him to put his autograph on it.

The women were similarly fast, with seven of eight runners running under 54 seconds and the top two runners – Kate Douglass and Torri Huske – running under 53 seconds. Manuel wasn’t quite as fast as he was in the first two rounds on Wednesday, finishing in 53.25 seconds. But that was enough for a woman with five Olympic medals on her resume to secure another appearance at the Summer Games.

“It’s very moving to hear Simone’s story,” said Gretchen Walsh, who finished third. “I think she’s a great example of what you can go through in this sport. It’s very unforgiving.”

“She is a true inspiration to everyone on Team USA. I’m thrilled to have her as a role model in Paris, and I’m just excited to experience my first Olympic Games with her third Olympic Games, and it should definitely be an unforgettable experience.”

Dressel will have two more chances to make the team in individual events, namely the 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle. Manuel also has a chance in the 50m. They may not make it and may never be the swimmers they once were. But they have returned to the sport at an Olympic level after falling into the depths. That in and of itself is a victory.