Paris 2024 Olympics - Swimming - Men's 200m Individual Medley - Heats - Paris La Defense Arena, Nanterre, France - August 01, 2024. Leon Marchand of France in action. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
PARIS (Reuters) - Being the child of swimming Olympians and dubbed the "French Michael Phelps", living up to the hype has been the biggest test for Leon Marchand when diving into the Paris pool.
It's a test the 22-year-old has passed with flying colours, having swept three-out-of-three individual events on a wave of frenzied home support while re-writing the history books.
On Wednesday, Marchand did the unthinkable, claiming the unprecedented 200 metres butterfly and breaststroke double -- with a medal ceremony in between.
Both swims were in Olympic record time, an incredible feat for two of the most demanding disciplines.
Marchand has been hot property since taking Phelps's 400 metres individual medley (IM) world record last year at the World Championships in Fukuoka where he took three individual world titles to add to his two from Budapest in 2022.
Few Olympic swimmers have generated the mania that has gripped La Defense Arena through the week.
The pressure on athletes at their home Games can be suffocating.
Ian Thorpe felt the heat in swimming-mad Australia before the 2000 Sydney Games -- and was able to deliver by winning the 400 metres freestyle gold and two relay titles at them.
The buzz surrounding Marchand and his achievements are at another level, though.
Already the Olympic champion in the 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly and breaststroke, Marchand could emerge from Paris with four individual gold medals if he wins the 200m individual medley.
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 individual events at a single Games.
American Phelps won a record five at the 2008 Olympics and his career total of 13 individual titles may never be beaten.
But Marchand's similarities with Phelps are more than enough to excite French fans.
He is coached by Bob Bowman, who turned Phelps into a gold medal machine and competes in the same events as the American great.
Just over four years ago, Bowman received an email from a Toulouse-born 18-year-old with a surname he recognised, enquiring about the coach's swimming programme at Arizona State university.
It was signed "Sportingly, Leon."
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," Marchand said before the Games started.
"They have experienced the Olympics ... and help me to handle the pressure."
With Bowman an assistant coach with the French team at the Olympics, Marchand may have the best support team of any of his rivals.
He has certainly earned it, much as Phelps did by toughening up through Bowman's punishing training regimes.
Marchand has also worked with coach Thomas Sammut on building mental strength and uses breathing exercises to calm himself.
The result has been the development of a swimmer seemingly impervious to the pressure of the great expectations he has generated.
Instead, Marchand has only drawn energy from the crowds of 15,000 fans who have packed into La Defense Arena and have chanted his name through every swim.
Even the very best have doubts, though, and Marchand was candid about lacking confidence in his ability to complete the 200m butterfly and breaststroke double on Wednesday.
"I had a lot of doubts because everyone was telling me it wasn't possible," he said.
"Bob said to me after the 400 metres medley swim, 'Come on, let's do it.'
"So that made me happy, I managed to get the confidence I was lacking."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Additional reporting by Rohith Nair; Editing by Toby Davis)
