But Phelps is retired and Lochte, disgraced as a gas station gangster after the 2016 Rio Olympics, just finished a 14-month ban for receiving a prohibited arterial distillation, an offense he accidentally revealed via Instagram.
He’s trawling to make his fifth Olympic team at age 35 next summer but is not the multi-medal threat he once was.
Dressel’s path has been different than Phelps’s, who broke his first world record at age 15, turned professional a year later and collected six gold and two bronze medals at two Olympics by age 22.
Dressel rose to power in the institutional swimming world.
At the University of Florida, he won 10 individual NCAA titles—more than any other Gator, including Lochte—and holds NCAA records in five individual events regardless of being able to swim only three at any given meet.
Dressel cemented himself as the best swimmer to ever compete in a 25-yard pool while competing for Florida, but international meets are contested in longer 50-meter pools.