French swimmer makes waves at 2024 Olympics

France's Leon Marchand won two more gold medals and broke two records, to become the only swimmer to win three times at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This morning, Leon Marchand won the 200m butterfly event, with a time of 1 minute 51 seconds 21. He broke the Olympic record, 4% of a second faster than the milestone set by Hungarian swimmer Kristof Milak at Tokyo 2020. Milak also holds the world record of 1 minute 50 seconds 34.

Milak was Marchand's opponent in today's final, leading after 150m. But in the last 50m, the French swimmer created a spectacular sprint, taking only 28.97 seconds, while Milak was 30.23 seconds, to win by 54% of a second.

Swimmer Leon Marchand competes in the 200m butterfly final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: Reuters

"I watched a lot of Milak's races," Marchand said. "He had a lot of speed, a lot faster than me. So I just tried my best to get there as fast as I could."

Marchand then hurried out of the competition area to prepare for another event, but was interrupted by a mandatory award ceremony. As the French national anthem ended, the silver and bronze medalists walked slowly around the pool for a photo, while Marchand hurried back to the training area.

Exactly 2 hours and 4 minutes later, the 2002-born swimmer participated in the 200m breaststroke and continuously led to finish at 2 minutes 5 seconds 85. He ranked above Zac Stubblety-Cook and broke the Olympic record that the Australian swimmer set at Tokyo 2020, with 53% less seconds.

Leon Marchand splashes water to celebrate winning the 200m breaststroke at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photo: Reuters

Marchand became the only swimmer to win three gold medals at Paris 2024 so far. No athlete has ever won two individual gold medals. Earlier, he won the 400m medley in 4 minutes 2.50 seconds, breaking the 16-year-old Olympic record of American legend Michael Phelps.

Marchand's performance in just over two hours created a buzz that took the blue track by storm. Fans at the Paris Aquatics Palace chanted his name, held up cardboard signs of Marchand's smiling face, and even hailed him as the new icon of French sport.

“I’m a very shy person,” Marchand said. “Being the center of attention in the two races, I tried to get the energy from the crowd and push myself to compete.”

Fans cheer Leon Marchand at the Paris Aquatics Palace. Photo: Reuters

The 2024 Olympic swimming competition has already seen one world record and eight Olympic records broken, with Marchand taking three. He still has a chance to improve his record when he competes in the 200m medley this afternoon. In addition, the 22-year-old swimmer helps France join the US in three gold medals, while Australia leads with four.

Marchand was born into a family of swimming professionals, with his father Xavier Marchand and mother Celine Bonnet both former medley swimmers. His good results earned him a scholarship to Arizona State University, majoring in computer science, and training in the competitive environment of the world's number one swimming powerhouse.

His career was further enhanced by Bob Bowman, Phelps' former coach. After watching his student win three Olympic gold medals, Bowman said: "I am very proud. It was a great effort, historic."

Marchand has previously won five gold medals and one silver at the World Championships. He has dominated the 200m and 400m individual medley events in the last two seasons.