Leon Marchand's fourth Olympic swimming gold sparks Parisian commotion
Nanterre, France: Leon Marchand's party spreads beyond the pool and quickly spreads throughout Paris.
At the Stade de France, which hosted the opening night of athletics, applause broke out as Marchand won his fourth Olympic gold medal. The applause was so loud that the first round of the 400-meter decathlon was delayed.
At France's Olympic stadium, nearly 20,000 people gathered outside to watch Marchand's spectacular finish in the pool, including 19-year-old Arthur Oursel.
“He’s a hero,” Ursel said. “He’s our hero.”
With 15,000 fans cheering on French President Emmanuel Macron in a rugby stadium turned swimming pool, Marchand cruised to another victory in the 200m individual medley on Friday night.
“I don’t think there was anything wrong with this week,” Marchand said. “It was perfect.”
The 22-year-old French sprinter will no doubt be remembered as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Olympics in his homeland. He finished the race in 1 minute 54.06 seconds, narrowly beating the world record set by 13-year-old Ryan Loguet.
That was the only thing he failed to do during his six-day spree at La Defense Arena. He won the 400m medley, 200m butterfly and 200m backstroke, the latter two events about two hours apart in the same session.
Marchand became only the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to win four individual gold medals at the same Games.
Others include Michael Phelps, who did it in 2004 and 2008, Mark Spitz in 1972, and East Germany's Christine Otto in 1988.
This company is really intoxicating.
“That’s crazy. Those guys are legends,” Marchand said. “I don’t think I realize that yet. Maybe in a few days I will.”
Silver went to Duncan Scott of the United Kingdom, who was one length behind in 1:55.31, while Wang Shun of China took bronze in 1:56.00, beating Carson Foster of the United States to reach the podium.
Great night for France
The crowd cheering for their favorite son at La Defense Stadium was back in full force. They chanted “Sweet Caroline,” waved the French tricolor flag, and played a huge tifo on the upper deck.
After Marchand touched the wall, he held up four fingers, one each representing gold. He climbed out of the pool, clenched his fists, and stretched out his arms as if to say, “What more do you want?”
There is nothing at all.
He has accomplished everything, more than meeting national expectations and comparisons to Phelps, who is here to cheer Marchand on. What might be a burden for some athletes seems to have pushed Marchand to greater heights.
Macron shook hands with Marchand during Friday's celebrations and sent congratulations on social media.
“The impossible is not for France!” Macron wrote in French. “Four gold medals at home and a new Olympic record. It is history. It is Leon Marchand.”
Marchand certainly enjoyed his time, and his American coach Bob Bowman, who also coached Phelps, encouraged him to do so with the right form.
He led the fans to the podium to cheers before climbing the steps again. The crowd booed “La Marseillaise” in the most rousing way ever, even though they had plenty of chances to sing the French national anthem this week.
Chants of “Leon! Leon! Leon!” filled the stadium as soon as the national anthem ended. Someone held up a sign that simply said “Merci Leon.”
“I am very proud to be French,” Marchand said.
Australian gold medals for McEvoy and McKeown
Before Marchand's victory, Cameron McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown took home another gold for Australia.
McEvoy took the podium first in the 50m freestyle, preventing Caleb Dressel from repeating in a fiercely competitive event. McKean followed that up with a victory in the 200m backstroke, becoming the first female swimmer to win the latter event at two consecutive Summer Games.
Asked if she could have imagined such a success, McKeevan said: “Not in a million years.”
McEvoy became the first Australian man to win a gold medal at the Games, and McKeown quickly helped her country reach a record seven Olympic gold medals, three more than both the United States and Marchand, who essentially became a country.
McKeown noted that this is an incredible time 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 for the Aussie girls, but for the world and women’s sport as a whole. It’s been a great year,” McKeevan said. “It’s great to be a part of it.”
McEvoy advanced from one end to the other in 21.25 seconds, beating Britain's Benjamin Proud by five-hundredths of a second. France's Florent Manaudou stunned the home crowd once again by taking the bronze medal in 21.56 seconds.
Dressel, who won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, finished sixth in 21.61 seconds.
McKeown recovered again, as she did in the 100-meter backstroke, to catch up with all-time American runner-up Regan Smith. The winning time was an Olympic record of 2:03.73, breaking the mark set by Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Olympics.
Another silver for Regan Smith
Smith clocked 2:04.26 to win the fifth silver medal of her career, along with a bronze. She has never won a gold medal.
The bronze medal went to Canada's Kylie Masse in 2:05.57.
Smith insists she is happy with the result, even though the gold medal is still a long way from being won.
“If I had gotten silver and I was a second slower, I think I would have been very disappointed in myself because that’s not my best. That’s not what I’m capable of,” Smith said. “That was one of my fastest times. I think I made Kaylee push herself and I made everything close and exciting. So I’m excited.”
The dress hasn't arrived yet.
The American star has qualified for two individual events, and he will not medal in either event.
Shortly after finishing sixth in the 50m freestyle, he returned to the pool for the semifinals of the 100m butterfly, another event he won in Tokyo.
Dressel was unable to perform, finishing only 13th fastest and missing Saturday night's race.
He won the gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay for the United States, the eighth gold medal of his career.
It was a disappointing result for one of the biggest stars of the Tokyo Games, but not too unexpected given what he has been through.
A year after the 2021 Olympics were delayed due to the pandemic, Dressel withdrew from swimming in the middle of the world championships.
He needs time off to get back into swimming, which is still a bit of a development. Dressel looks much happier now, having welcomed his first child about five months ago, but he hasn’t been able to get back into swimming as quickly as he did three years ago.
“It’s obviously not my best performance,” Dressel said. “I had a lot of fun, but it wasn’t my best week. I don’t think there’s any shame in that.”
He still has to send another relay team in Paris, which would give him a chance to win the ninth gold medal of his career.
Dressel wanted to go out with joy because the competition was “really sad.”
After getting out of the pool, he started crying.
