Swimming | Leon 1st | The Press

(Paris) It is strictly impossible not to fall instantly under the spell of Léon Marchand, the French swimmer who already holds his entire country in the palm of his hand on the second day of the Paris Olympic Games.

“If I can free my body and mind as much as possible, it will be great,” the 22-year-old athlete announced after the 400m individual medley heats on Sunday morning. “I think I will, it will be fun.”

Nice? It was extraordinary, not to say surreal. Carried away by a crowd of 13,100 spectators on the verge of delirium, Marchand atomized the competition in the final, giving himself a lead of five or six body lengths after the breaststroke section, then concentrating on “looking for a time”, a supreme luxury in an Olympic final.

This time: 4 min 02.95, almost 1 second better than the Olympic record of Michael Phelps, with whom he shares not only the coach (Bob Bowman), but also a style that he managed to surpass on a technical level.

After sitting on the cable and pointing his index finger straight ahead, Léon Marchand climbed out of the pool to greet the crowd. He took as much time as possible to absorb the immensity of the moment and the “Léon! Léon!” that echoed throughout the building.

Before stopping in front of the written press, he took a few minutes to receive congratulations from President Emmanuel Macron, who encouraged him with his family in the salon of the Élysée.

“It’s a very difficult emotion to describe,” he said. “It’s incredible. For a swimmer, it’s very rare to experience that. I’m lucky to be here, to be in shape, to perform at my level and to simply enjoy it. I opened my eyes, I listened to everything that was happening around me and it really pushed me to have a great race and have a lot of fun.”

After having “let go to the maximum”, Léon Marchand will have three other opportunities to continue his quest for medals in Paris, including an attempt at an unprecedented 200m butterfly-200m breaststroke double on the same evening, July 31.