Caeleb Dressel anchors USA 4×100 relay team at Paris Olympics, wins 8th gold

Add another gold medal to the trophy case for UF swimming legend Caeleb Dressel, who anchored the USA 4×100 freestyle relay team that won gold at the Paris Olympics.

Former Florida Gator [autotag]Caeleb Dressel[/autotag] won another gold medal on Saturday as the United States dominated the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Dressel anchored the race, swimming the fourth and final leg for his country. He began his lap with a two-second lead thanks to a 46.75-second third leg from Hunter Armstrong. Dressel gave up some time to the Australians and Italy— who won the silver and bronze medals, respectively — but the United States finished at 3:09.28, more than a full second ahead of second place.

“Relays are a little more special to be honest,” Dressel said to the Associated Press. “So doing it with these guys has been awesome. It takes me back to my first gold. It really doesn’t get old. Really special standing on the podium with these guys watching the flag go up. I’m extremely proud of them. It made my job easy.”

“It’s really special. Making the team in front of him and then winning a gold in front of him, just checking little boxes that I never would have thought to create throughout my career,” Dressel said. “So that was a really special one tonight.”

Dressel will defend his Tokyo Olympic golds in the 100-meter butterfly and 50-meter freestyle over the coming days.

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