France’s Leon Marchand produced a dazzling double gold-medal winning performance to electrify the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, powering to victories in the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly to send the host nation into ecstatic celebrations.
The 22-year-old bagged his first gold of the night after summoning a lung-bursting late charge to claim the 200m fly, and then just under two hours later showed incredible reserves of stamina to motor home in the 200m breaststroke.
The back-to-back golds made Marchand — who won gold in the 400 individual medley earlier in the Games — the first swimmer to win the 200 fly and breaststroke in the same Olympics.
The five-time world champion, little known outside the world of swimming before the Olympics, has become a national hero in the space of a week with his trio of golds.
“I’ve fulfilled a lot of dreams since I’ve been here. Doing this double was something I felt I could do. But to really do it, that’s something else,” he said.
“Of course, I had a lot of doubts. Because everyone told me it wasn’t possible,” he said of the unprecedented double.
While the 15,000 crowd at the La Defense Arena belted out a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise during the medal ceremonies, a smiling Marchand looked calm as he soaked up the adulation.
“I’m just trying to keep going. I really enjoyed every moment of those two finals. It was really amazing for me to swim those,” he said, after dethroning two defending champions.
‘Tonight was amazing’
For as powerful, focused and technically gifted as he is when racing, the prodigy from Toulouse is a relaxed, chilled, individual out of the pool, a winning combination that has earned him the hearts of a nation.
In the breaststroke, the 22-year-old touched the wall in a time of 2min 5.85sec, a new Olympic record and the second fastest time of all-time.
Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook, the defending champion from Tokyo, finished with silver 0.94 seconds behind with Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands claiming bronze.
Remarkably the race was the first time Marchand has swum the 200 breaststroke in a major international competition but in his current form and with a deafening home crowd behind him, there was simply no stopping him as he led from start to finish.
But it was his astonishing victory in the butterfly which will live longest in the memory.
World record holder and defending champion Kristof Milak of Hungary led until the final lap when Marchand hunted him down.
The Frenchman produced a perfect turn, coming out of it with the momentum he needed to catch Milak and he did just that — the moment he passed the Hungarian, midway through the final greeted with a guttural roar from the crowd.
Milak had no answer and the arena was on its feet as Marchand finished with a new Olympic record time of 1min 51.21sec.
“The 200 butterfly was crazy. I had a really good race strategy. I managed to stay fairly close to the favourite and I really managed to catch him…with the pool on fire. It was pretty crazy to experience that as a French swimmer. I’m so happy,” he said.
Could he really follow up all that exertion with another individual medal later in the same evening?
Marchand is trained by Michael Phelps’ former coach Bob Bowman and not even his former charge had managed this particular double gold haul in the same Games.
Nothing seems to faze France’s newest sporting superstar though as he raced to victory with not the slightest sign of fatigue.
“It’s wonderful. That tonight was amazing. It’s a night he’ll never forget,” said a purring Bowman.
“The way he handled it. His attitude about it was amazing. The way that he put different parts of it and lands how to swim each race were just exactly why I’m so proud,” he added.
Marchand could add further to his historic Olympic performance when he competes in the 200m individual medley starting Thursday.
Even amidst the joy of his remarkable triumphs, Marchand’s thoughts were turning to that next challenge.
“Now I’m going to have to realise what happened, appreciate every moment — and above all, refocus for the 200 IM.”
