Leon Marchand bore the burden of being compared to Michael Phelps and carrying the expectations of an entire country on his strong shoulders. The young Frenchman, who is 22 years old, effortlessly managed everything, positioning himself to become one of the top stars of the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Leon Marchand won a swimming gold for France in the men’s 400-meter individual medley with a strong victory on Sunday night, cheered on by a crowd waving flags.
Leon Marchand took the lead as soon as he emerged from the water and slowly distanced himself from the other competitors in two distinct races: Leon Marchand racing against time, while everyone else vied for second and third place.
“I began extremely quickly,” he stated. I avoided glancing at the adjacent lanes. I was concentrating on my own self.
Leon Marchand almost broke his own world record during the last turn, but slowed down towards the end, finishing in 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds – an Olympic record, just short of his world record of 4:02.50. Leon Marchand achieved the esteemed record at the previous year’s global competition in Fukuoka, Japan, breaking the 15-year-old record previously held by Phelps.
Leon Marchand met those extremely high expectations for at least one evening, with Phelps present as part of NBC’s broadcasting crew to observe it all. Leon Marchand arrived slightly late to the interview space. It so happened that he needed to answer a phone call — from the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
Leon Marchand reported that he watched the race with his whole family and they all cheered loudly when he won, as translated by Leon Marchand.
Shortly after Marchand left the deck, Torri Huske defeated world-record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 100 butterfly, securing a 1-2 finish for the United States with a powerful final push to touch the wall first.
Adam Peaty’s dominant streak in the men’s 100 breaststroke came to an end.
Peaty, the winner of the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, took a substantial break to address mental health problems. After coming back, he gradually regained his speed and advanced to the final as the top qualifier.
The British star fell just short of achieving a third consecutive gold medal. Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy claimed victory in lane seven with a time of 59.03. Peaty and American Nic Fink both earned a silver medal by finishing just two-hundredths of a second behind the winner in 59.05.
Peaty stated that he is not sad in any way. “I believe anyone who has participated in sports knows that you are constantly taking risks.” Therefore, there is no such concept as a defeat.
It was the initial Olympic medal of Fink’s career, which blossomed late at 31 years old. His career in swimming, to be specific. Fink holds a full-time job at an engineering company and logs in from his home in Dallas when he’s not at the pool. Fink and his wife are anticipating the arrival of their first baby.
“In a way, age is merely a number,” Fink commented. Nevertheless, in a different way, it holds a greater significance now, particularly because there were certainly opportunities to end my career sooner but I continued due to my passion for the sport. Having so much success at this point is like the cherry on top and very enjoyable. Naturally, during the second day of swimming, everyone was being overshadowed by Leon Marchand.
La Defense Arena was filled with over 15,000 spectators, a lot of whom had their faces adorned in the colors of the tricolor flag – blue, white, and red.
Shouts of “Léon! Hey Léon! “Léon!” was shouted and a spontaneous performance of “La Marseillaise” started in the rugby stadium 15 minutes early before Leon Marchand entered the pool for the evening’s first final.
Leon Marchand expressed that it is challenging to articulate the experience as a swimmer due to the amazing atmosphere in the pool. How can you resist smiling in front of a crowd of 15,000 people? I would like to express my gratitude to all the French individuals who attended this evening.
Leon Marchand, who honed his skills in the U.S. while studying at Arizona State University, performed exceptionally well to win his first gold medal, which is definitely not his final one.
The silver medal was awarded to Tomoyuki Matsushita from Japan, who crossed the finish line almost 6 seconds after the winner with a time of 4:08.62. Carson Foster from the United States won the third-place bronze medal with a time of 4:08.66. Leon Marchand has only just begun in Paris. He’s registered for three additional solo competitions.
He said he was very proud of his actions that evening. “I will enjoy it tonight, but after that I will wind down as I still have about seven or eight days remaining.”
Leon Marchand waited for everyone else to complete the race before he got on the lane rope and raised his left fist for a cheering crowd in a stadium usually used by the famous rugby club Racing 92