Leon Marchand fulfilled what French fans may regard as destiny as he swept to a fourth gold medal at his home Paris games by winning the men’s 200-metre individual medley in an Olympic record time.
Roared on by a delirious crowd at La Defense Arena on Friday, Marchand took control from the second backstroke leg, stretched his lead through the breaststroke, then powered home with a time of 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, only 0.06 seconds short of Ryan Lochte’s 13-year record.
Britain’s Duncan Scott won the silver, more than a second behind Marchand, while China’s defending champion Wang Shun took the bronze.
The win made Marchand the first French athlete to take four individual golds, as opposed to team ones, at a single Summer Games and only the third male swimmer to do so after Americans Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz.
The 22-year-old won the 400-metre individual medley last Sunday and then both the 200-metre butterfly and 200-metre breaststroke within the space of two incredible hours on Wednesday.
The great expectations might have been too much for other swimmers at their home games, but Marchand only drew energy from them and lived up to his nickname, the French Michael Phelps.
A delighted French President Emmanuel Macron punched his fist in the air in celebration from the terraces packed with the country’s flags.
“It was my last individual final so I said to myself, I really have to enjoy it,” Marchand told reporters.
“I had a lot more energy than yesterday so I felt better, more relaxed.
“And I really wanted to have fun in my last final and it happened, so it was huge.”
Just as he had done three times before, the 22-year-old from Toulouse mounted the podium and belted out the Marseillaise with the entire stadium accompanying him.
“Leon’s name’s now in the national anthem it seems, which is pretty cool,” said Scott, who extended his British record haul to eight Olympic medals.
“As much as what Phelps did was pretty sensational, he never did it in his home country and so he’s becoming a sort of global superstar now. He kind of runs France now.”
