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French swimmer Léon Marchand won his second and third gold medals on Wednesday night to cement his place as the hometown hero and breakout star of the Paris Olympics.
Amid the deafening roar of thousands of fans shouting his name, the 22-year-old from Toulouse came first in the 200m butterfly and then triumphed in the 200m breaststroke — a strong performance given there were only two hours between the races.
In the butterfly, Marchand faced tough competition from Hungary’s Kristof Malik, the defending champion and world record holder, but the Frenchman edged ahead in the final stretch to win and notch up a new Olympic record.
In the breaststroke, he again set a new Olympic record and became the first swimmer to ever win medals in butterfly and breaststroke at the same games.
The results will fuel the Marchand mania that has gripped France since the softly spoken athlete won his first gold on Sunday by obliterating his opponents in the 400m individual medley.
He has given the host nation a reason to celebrate even as the early days of the Paris games were marked by a controversial opening ceremony, setbacks to triathlon events in the River Seine, and sabotage against France’s high-speed rail system.
Celebratory cheers could be heard across Paris on Wednesday night as bars and cafés set up televisions for people to watch their new hero.
A massive photograph of Marchand crouched in starting position in a swim cap and goggles has been stretched over the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper in southern Paris.
Born into a swimming family to parents who were both one-time Olympians, Marchand is carrying France’s sporting hopes on his shoulders.
His results will help determine if France can capitalise on home advantage to meet its goal to break into the top five countries in the medals table — which would be a huge improvement from past performances.
France started Wednesday night in fourth place, but with Marchand’s two golds, his country shot up to second behind China.
Marchand is planting a French flag in a sport long dominated by Americans like Michael Phelps, who won 28 Olympic gold medals and is the world’s most successful swimmer, and Australian Ian Thorpe, who secured nine.
Ever since Marchand broke Phelps’ world record in the 400m individual medley last year, the swimming world’s hype machine has sought to anoint the Frenchman as his successor.
Marchand moved to Arizona to train with Phelps’ former coach, Bob Bowman, who has helped him improve everything from his turns to his recovery tactics.
One of Bowman’s first contributions to Marchand’s arsenal was to give him Phelps’ warm-up routine, which he still uses.
Therese Alshammar, a three-time Olympic medal swimmer for Sweden who now does commentary for Eurosport, cautioned against comparisons, especially since Marchand was just starting out.
“It’s amazing that at 22 years old he is competing in the Olympics at home and has not buckled under stress,” she said.
“He is starting out on a path to be one of the most remembered swimmers in the history of Europe, and maybe the world, although Michael might have something to say about that.”
Bowman said on Sunday that his protégé had the “total package” of skills for a champion.
“He’s got the speed, he’s got the endurance, he’s got the under waters,” the coach said, referring to Marchand’s sinuous kicks at starts and on turns, and his ability to outlast opponents in the punishing underwater phase of races.
Doing both the butterfly and the breaststroke was Marchand’s idea, according to Bowman, who was not initially supportive.
“I was kind of leaning towards just doing one, even a week ago. But he was pretty confident,” he said on Wednesday evening.
Marchand beamed during his second medal ceremony of Wednesday night, and joined the crowd as they belted out La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. “It’s just crazy to live through this as a French swimmer,” he told reporters afterwards.
He said he was channelling the deafening cheers from the home crowd, especially during his come from behind win in the butterfly.
“I could hear the whole pool just going crazy and I think that’s why I was able to win the race,” said Marchand.