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PARIS — In the multi-century history of swimming at the Olympics, no one — no man, no woman, no superhuman, not even Michael Phelps — had ever won medals in both butterfly and breaststroke.
On Wednesday here at Paris La Défense Arena, Léon Marchand did it in a span of 116 minutes.
He emerged from a makeshift tunnel at 8:38 p.m. Propelled by an ear-rattling French roar, he ripped past Hungarian star Kristof Milak over the final 50 of the 200-meter butterfly to win gold. He wagged his finger. He gently clenched a fist. He pulled himself up out of the pool, and waved to the crowd.
Then he beelined for a warm-down pool. Somewhere in the 9 p.m. hour, it became a warm-up pool. At 10:32, he emerged once again, and swam to gold again in the 200-meter breaststroke.
It was, in swimming parlance, a “double” so unusual that the two finals had originally been scheduled back-to-back on Wednesday night. One stroke, the fly, is an out-to-in motion above water; the other, breast, is an in-to-out motion underwater. Since the fly was added to the Olympic program in 1956, the closest anyone had come to medaling in both was American Mary Sears, who won bronze in the inaugural 100 fly and finished seventh in the 200 breast.
Then along came Marchand, a French phenom, “the new monster,” The Next Michael.
“There are not many people who try this double, it’s a bit weird,” he acknowledged last month. “But I like weird.”
So he committed to perhaps the most ambitious night of Olympic swimming ever. His coaches, meanwhile, lobbied for a schedule tweak. Organizers “had never encountered this problem, because until now, no very high level swimmer had done the 200 breaststroke and the 200 butterfly,” French swimming technical director Julien Issoulié told French newspaper Le Monde. They eventually agreed to move the 200 breast toward the end of the night, making the double possible, though still highly improbable.
And Marchand, 22, an aerobic freak and underwater master, made it plausible.
Over three years under coach Bob Bowman — the longtime tutor and mentor of Phelps — at Arizona State University, Marchand refined the rhythm of various doubles. He regularly swam twice per night at Pac-12 championships and NCAAs. He set and re-set collegiate records, all while readying himself for this Olympic stage.
“I think NCAA [championships] were a pretty good practice for me,” he said Sunday after winning his first of what could be four medals in Paris.
The Wednesday double, though, at an Olympics, was a different animal. An unprecedented animal.
But so is Marchand.
At French trials last month, between the two races, “my vision was blurred,” Marchand said. “It’s like I was under anesthesia, kind of sleepy. I should have eaten something.”
But, he said afterward: “I’ve always liked back-to-back races in intense competitions. I recuperate quite quickly. I love this.” He qualified first in both.
On Tuesday, he swam both races twice — prelims in the morning, semis in the evening. The semis were roughly 75 minutes apart; Marchand still finished first in both of his heats.
His mythical stature has grown swim by swim here in Paris. His beaten rivals — such as American Carson Foster, after Marchand won Sunday’s 400-meter individual medley — speak in awe about how they’ll one day tell their kids about sharing a pool or a podium with him. His teammates marvel. “He’s Poseidon,” backstroker Yohann Ndoye Brouard said. “I swear, he’s Aquaman.”
And on Wednesday, he did what many in the sport would’ve considered unthinkable.
In the fly, he trailed Milak by more than a half-second at the 50, 100 and 150-meter walls. Then he gained as Milak died, and his nation erupted. The rafters shook. The rush of emotion was irresistible.
Marchand, though, stayed level. He disappeared out of public view. At 9:34 p.m., he appeared for a medal ceremony. At 9:37, with fans jumping for joy behind him and chanting his name, he ascended onto a podium. At 9:39, he smiled with pride and nodded his head as “La Marseillaise,” the French anthem, climaxed. At 9:40, he took a selfie — then skipped a celebratory lap around the pool deck, to go prepare for another race.
And around an hour later, he won it. He had stated, months ago, that his goal was a gold medal. “I want to be an Olympic champion,” he said. On Wednesday, he became the most unique Olympic champion and an instant legend.
Source Agencies
