He's really been declining now for awhile, he did not even qualify for another event here at all pre Olympics which he won in 2021, I think the 200
USA has had a brutal Olympics. Coming into today they only have 3 people who’ve won individual gold medals (Ledecky, Huske, Douglass).
Not a single man either. Dressel’s break might’ve been good for him psychologically, but his swimming wasn’t there when he came back. Murphy is getting old too, and for some reason hasn’t had his best stuff this week either. None of the supposed male up and comers have done anything.
Some of the females have also struggled. Ledecky coming into today hasn’t been at her best. She’s declining. Looking very beatable. King is pretty much at the end of her ability to compete, and I think is retiring too after the Olympics. Some of the up and comers haven’t done that well either. Gretchen Walsh was supposed to win like two golds and didn’t deliver. Reagan Smith is the queen of the silver medal. She doesn’t deliver when it matters in the Olympics, even though she’s arguably the best female swimmer in the world during the rest of the year.
They are still getting a lot of medals. It’s probably just a one off brutal Olympics in between generations, but this has been an Olympics to forget for USA in the pool and it can still get worse.