Leon Marchand won his 4th Olympic swimming gold and got the party going across Paris
NANTERRE, France: The party for Leon Marchand extended beyond the pool and quickly spread across Paris.
A huge ovation erupted at the Stade de France, where the first night of athletics took place, as Marchand won his fourth Olympic gold medal. The roar was so loud that the first heat of the 400-meter decathlon was delayed.
At France's Olympic home, nearly 20,000 people gathered outside to watch Marchand dominate the pool, including 19-year-old Arthur Oursel.
“He's a hero,” Oursel said. “He's our hero.
With French President Emmanuel Macron among more than 15,000 fans cheering him on in the rugby stadium-turned-naatorium, Marchand cruised to another victory in the 200m individual medley on Friday night.
“I don't think anything went wrong this week,” Marchand said. “It was just perfect.
The 22-year-old French phenom left no doubt that he will be remembered as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Games in his native country. He finished in an Olympic record time of 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, narrowly missing Ryan Lochte's 13-year-old world mark.
That was about the only thing he failed to do in six magical days at La Defense Arena, having previously won the 400 IM, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke – the last two two hours apart in the same session.
Marchand became only the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to win four individual golds at a single Games.
Other? Michael Phelps, who did it in 2004 and 2008; Mark Spitz in 1972; and East Germany's Kristin Otto in 1988.
Heady company, indeed.
“It's crazy. Those guys are legends,'' Marchand said. “I don't think I've realized it yet. Maybe I will in a couple of days.”
Silver went to Britain's Duncan Scott with a body length loss of 1:55.31. China's Wang Shun took the bronze in 1:56.00, edging out American Carson Foster for a place on the podium.
What a night for France
A packed house at La Defense Arena came to cheer on their favorite son once more. They chanted, sang “Sweet Caroline”, waved the French tricolor and unveiled a huge tifo on the upper deck.
When Marchand touched the wall, he held up four fingers—one for each gold. He climbed out of the pool, pumped his fists, then held out his arms as if to say, “What more could you want?”
Not a thing.
He did it all, more than living up to the expectations of his nation and the comparisons to Phelps who were there to cheer on Marchand. What could have been a burden for some athletes only seemed to propel Marchand to even greater heights.
Macron shook Marchand's hand during Friday's celebration and sent his congratulations via social media.
“Impossible is not French!” Macron wrote in French. “Four domestic gold medals and a new Olympic record – that's historic. That's Leon Marchand.”
Marchand certainly enjoyed his moment, encouraged by his American coach Bob Bowman – Phelps' coach, in due course.
He led the fans behind the stage in cheers before taking the top step once more. The crowd erupted into their most rousing rendition of “La Marseillaise” yet – although, of course, they've had plenty of opportunities to work their way through the French national anthem this week.
Chants of “Leon! Leon! Leone!” filled the arena as the anthem played. Someone held up a sign that said “Merci Leon”.
“I am extremely proud,” said Marchand, “to be French.”
Aussie gold for McEvoy, McKeown
Cameron McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown won another gold for Australia before Marchand's triumph.
McEvoy touched first in the 50 freestyle, denying Caeleb Dressel a repeat in swimming's wildest event. McKeown followed with a victory in the 200 breaststroke, becoming the first swimmer to sweep backstroke at two Summer Games.
Asked if she could have imagined such success, McKeown replied: “Not in a million years.”
McEvoy became the first Australian to win gold at the Games and McKeown quickly took his country's total to seven golds overall, three more than the USA and Marchand, who is essentially a country unto himself.
McKeown noted how amazing this is for women's sports, following in the footsteps of athletes like Simone Biles and Caitlin Clark in raising the profile of female athletes.
“Not just the Australian girls, but the whole world and women's sport has been incredible this year,” McKeown said. “It's great to be a part of it.
McEvoy got from one end of the pool to the other in 21:25, beating Britain's Benjamin Proud by five hundredths of a second. Florent Manaudou of France added another thrill to the home crowd as he took bronze in 21.56.
Dressel, who won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, finished sixth in 21.61.
McKeown rallied again, as she did in the 100 breaststroke, to catch perennial American champion Regan Smith. The winning time was an Olympic record of 2:03.73, breaking the mark set by Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Games.
Another silver for Regan Smith
Smith touched in 2:04.26 for her fifth career silver medal to add to her only bronze. She hasn't won the gold yet.
Canada's Kylie Masse won bronze in 2:05.57.
Smith insisted she was happy with the result, even if a gold medal remained out of sight.
“If I had won the silver medal and been a second slower, I think I would have been really disappointed with myself because it wasn't the best I could have done. I wasn't able to do that,” Smith said. “It's one of my fastest times ever. I think I really gave Kaylee a run for her money and made things really tight and exciting. So I'm excited about that.”
Dressel will come shortly
The American star qualified in two individual events and won't medal in either of them.
Shortly after his sixth-place finish in the 50 freestyle, he returned to the pool for the semifinals of the 100 butterfly — another event he won in Tokyo.
Dressel was unable to complete a grueling double, just missing out on the 13th fastest time last Saturday night.
He anchored the USA to gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay for his eighth career gold medal.
It was disappointing for one of the biggest stars of the Tokyo Games, but not so unexpected given what he had been through.
A year after the pandemic postponed the 2021 Olympics, Dressel retired from swimming in the middle of the world championships.
He desperately needed a break to rekindle his love of swimming, which is still a bit of a work in progress. Dressel seems much happier now that he welcomed his first child about five months ago, but he hasn't been able to recapture the lightning speed of three years ago.
“It's obviously not my best work,” Dressel said. “I had a lot of fun, but it wasn't my best week. I don't think I need to avoid it.”
One more relay awaits him in Paris, which gives him another chance for his ninth gold in his career.
Dressel would like to go on a note because those games were “a little heartbreaking, definitely a little heartbreaking.”
He cried after leaving the pool.
