“Allez!” they cried every time Léon Marchand’s head bobbed out of the water. “Allez!” they urged, as the person who will find yourself as France’s greatest star at this Olympics powered in the direction of 400m particular person medley gold. And every “Allez!” got here with such a ferocity and power it appeared to make the short-term foundations round this pool tremble in pleasure.
This was not a race, however an obliteration. The 22-year-old Marchand is skilled by Michael Phelps’s outdated coach, Bob Bowman, and there have been echoes of the American nice as he took victory by an astonishing 5.67sec. For good measure his time of 4min 2.95sec additionally broke the longest standing Olympic swimming file, set by Phelps in 2008.
Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita was second, and Carson Foster of the USA took bronze.
In the meantime, poor Max Litchfield was nearly in tears once more after coming fourth in the identical race for a 3rd consecutive Olympics, regardless of breaking his personal British file. “I’ve given completely all the things, emotionally, mentally, bodily,” the Briton stated. “I’ve swum a finest time and it’s simply robust. Simply the mistaken aspect of it once more.”
However for the boisterous house crowd Sunday night was all about Marchand. The Frenchman was already out of sight by midway, after the butterfly and the backstroke. The one query was how shortly he would race to the end. Ultimately he simply missed out on breaking his personal world file, however he was effectively inside Phelps’s outdated Olympic finest.
Afterwards he was serenaded with big cries of “Léon! Léon!” and a rendition of La Marseillaise that stirred the soul.
Marchand has pedigree that meant this efficiency didn’t come out of the blue. His mom, Celine, competed within the pool for France within the Barcelona Olympics, whereas his father, Xavier, swam in Atlanta in 1996 and 2000. But it surely was Marchand’s determination to ship Bowman an e-mail in Might 2020 that proved to be the defining second of his profession.
“Pricey Sir,” it started. “I’m a French swimmer, my identify is Léon Marchand (18 years outdated). I want to be a part of the college of Arizona State in summer time 2021 for swim and compete in NCAA together with your wonderful group. Do you suppose I may benefit from a scholarship?” Bowman wrote again, saying he had “a specific fondness for the 400 IM” and the remaining is historical past.
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Now the large query is what number of different medals Marchand may win at these Video games. Most suppose that the 200m particular person medley and 200m butterfly are shoo-ins for gold. Don’t put it previous him to win the 200m breaststroke both, though Qin Haiyang of China is the favorite.
Actually Litchfield is a believer. “I believe he’s going to have an unbelievable week,” he stated. On this proof you’ll be mad to argue.
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