France’s Léon Marchand dominates the Paris Olympic pool : NPR

NANTERRE, France – You couldn’t stage Léon Marchand’s coronation any better.

Over the last week, before an adoring and at times tumultuous home crowd in Paris, the young Frenchman with a mop of blond hair has emerged as the next big name in international Olympic swimming.

Marchand, age 22, had never won a gold medal before these Summer Games. He’s now claimed four individual gold medals in a single Olympics, putting him in a category of greatness once reserved exclusively for two Americans, Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps.

With each victory this week, including his latest Friday night where he held up four fingers in celebration, Marchand also shattered the Olympic record.

“It was crazy,” Marchand said of his final individual performance in the men’s 200 meter individual medley final at Paris’s La Defense arena in a Paris suburb. “Once again the public was cheering. It was my last individual race [of these Games] so I told myself I had to really enjoy it.”

To say the public was cheering doesn’t begin to capture the cultural moment Marchand has sparked here. Some French are ambivalent about the decision to host the Olympics in Paris, but everywhere you go in the city there’s Marchand fever. Taxi drivers talk about him. Teenagers swoon over him. At restaurants, everything stops when he races as all eyes turn to televisions showing his victories.

Crowds at the swimming venue here have been packed with Marchand fans. After each of his victories, thousands joined in boisterous renditions of La Marseillaise, France’s national anthem.

Marchand is expected to swim again on Sunday in a team relay final where another gold medal is very possible.

One twist to Marchand’s emergence as a national icon in France is the fact that his performance in the pool has been shaped largely by America’s long-dominant swimming system. Marchand lives in the U.S. most of the year and competed until recently in the NCAA system for Arizona State University.

After her race on Friday, U.S. swimmer Regan Smith, who often trains side-by-side with Marchand, voiced admiration for the Frenchman’s ability.

“I’ve had the opportunity to share a lane with him in practice for the better half of two years,” Smith said. “I’ve been able to see what he’s able to do every day in practice. He obviously has it physically, he’s incredibly talented. But what sets him apart from everyone else is what he has right up here [in his mind]. It’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. He has this It factor, this Je ne sais quois. He knows how to get s*** done.”

Notably, Marchand is coached by Bob Bowman, the legendary American swimming trainer who helped develop Michael Phelps’ talent. Earlier this week, Bowman told reporters Marchand has emerged in Paris as one of the all-time greats.

“I rank him at the top right now,” Bowman said of Marchand. “He’s got the speed, he’s got the endurance. He’s not even reached his potential.”

Asked about how it feels to train a breakout talent whose Olympic medals go to France, Bowman shrugged and said, “I’m still red, white and blue in my heart.”

After his win on Friday, Marchand said he plans to keep working with Bowman as he prepares for the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“We shared amazing moments here. We’ve been working really hard over the last three years. I don’t know how to do the next part (of my sports career). I think (Bowman) will really help me with that, because he knows a lot about it.

Asked about being compared with American Michael Phelps, who captured a career total of 28 Olympic medals — 23 of them gold — Marchand said it’s an honor. “Of course, he is a legend of the swimming world – and he will always be.”