Being the child of swimming Olympians and dubbed the “French Michael Phelps”, living up to the hype may be the biggest test for Leon Marchand when the home hero dives into the Paris pool.
Marchand has been hot property since destroying Phelps’s 400 metres individual medley (IM) world record last year at a stunning World Championships in Fukuoka where he scooped three individual world titles to add to his two from Budapest in 2022.
A teenage Ian Thorpe generated a similar mania in swimming-mad Australia before the 2000 Sydney Games - and duly delivered by winning the 400 metres freestyle gold and two relay titles at them. The Marchand madness may be at another level.
As the Fukuoka world champion in the 200m, 400m IM and 200m butterfly - and also a contender for the 200m breaststroke title - Marchand could emerge from Paris with four individual gold medals.
Such a feat would put the Toulouse-born 22-year-old in rare company, with only Phelps, Mark Spitz and Kristin Otto having won four or more at a single Games.
Phelps, of course, won a record five at the 2008 Olympics and his career total of 13 individual titles may never be bested.
But Marchand’s similarities with Phelps are enough to get French fans excited.
He has been coached by Bob Bowman, who turned Phelps into a gold medal machine, for years in US college swimming and competes in the same events as the American great.
The converted La Defense Arena can hold 15,000 spectators and Marchand’s events, which start with the 400m IM tomorrow, may be the Games’ hottest tickets.
Little wonder the 22-year-old Marchand feels pressure to perform.
“It’s not easy at all,” he told reporters. “I’ve adapted pretty well to this craze for two years. It’s a disproportionate scale, for swimming at least. But I get used to it, it will be OK.”
He may have the best support team of any of the swimmers to cope with it all. Despite also preparing American swimmers, Bowman will be close at hand throughout the Olympic meet as an assistant coach on the French Olympic swim team. Both Marchand’s parents were medley swimmers, with father Xavier having won a world championship silver in the 200m medley and mother Celine Bonnet representing France at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
“My parents play a great role in all of this,” said Marchand. “They have experienced the Olympics...and help me to handle the pressure.”
Marchand is comfortable with being the gold medal favourite in most of his events and said he pays no heed to the “billions of scenarios” that could unfold for him over the next week-and-a half. “I can’t predict what will happen next week. It’s a present and I will open it Sunday and the days after.”
