Interrupted races, beer throwing and Michael Phelps… The wildest celebrations after Léon Marchand’s incredible double

For a moment on Wednesday evening, France was hanging on Léon Marchand’s breaststroke: the French swimmer achieved a historic feat by winning two Olympic titles in the space of two hours.

“It’s King Leon!” : emotion, thrill… All this rhymes with Léon. From the stands of Paris La Défense Arena, the lair of the French swimmer’s exploits, to Lyon, via the fan zones and the Club France, Léon Marchand caused a real tidal wave across France on Wednesday, July 31. At only 22 years old, the Toulouse native became a triple Olympic champion after his two new victories in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke.

And as proof of the “Leon-mania” that France is sinking into, we were able to witness scenes that until now were reserved for very important football matches.

So, if, around the Olympic swimming pool of Paris La Défense Arena, the supporters screamed with all their might to support the champion in his historic quest, a little further away, in the fan zones, we were able to witness scenes of jubilation sometimes accompanied by the now famous beer throwing, as is the tradition of English supporters, seen at Club France.

And, even more surprisingly, busy French fans in other Paris 2024 sports arenas have started singing the Marseillaise or chanting the name of Léon Marchand. This was the case in Lyon, for example.

At the Grand Palais, the team sabre final between South Korea and Hungary had to be briefly interrupted due to the volume of the fans. An identical scene at the Porte de Versailles in the Arena Sud where France’s Jia Nan Yuan faced Japan’s Hina Hayata in the round of 16 of the table tennis tournament, when Léon Marchand beat Hungary’s Kristof Milak by a few hundredths of a second on the last length of the 200m butterfly.

And what about the surprise of “Team USA”, at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille, which saw the crowd go wild. At the time of the final sprint of the swim, a cheer rose from the stands which chanted “Leon! Leon!“. To the point that the situation had to be explained to Stephen Curry, one of the American stars present in France for the Olympic tournament…”Thanks for helping me understand, I didn’t know who they were singing for… What’s his name? Marchand, right? It’s pretty cool, that they sing for their athletes and celebrate for them“, smiled the Golden State Warriors player, four-time NBA champion and two-time world champion with the United States.

Finally, in Bourgoin-Jallieu, during a summer preparation match between Lyon and Torino, the spectators at the Pierre-Rajon stadium began to sing “Leon Marchand! Leon Marchand! Leon, Leon, Leon Marchand! “to the tune of”We are the Champions!“, before launching into a Marseillaise.

And then there was also the “Let’s go Leon!” shouted on American television: the French champion was supported by his idol, Michael Phelps.

In an excerpt broadcast by the American channel NBC, we see the American with 23 Olympic gold medals chaining together encouragements and poses, visibly very enthusiastic in front of the last fifty meters of the 200 meters butterfly. And what if this was the passing of the torch… Olympic?