NANTERRE, France: The party for Leon Marchand spread beyond the pool and quickly swept across Paris.
At the Stade de France, which hosted the first night of athletics, a huge ovation erupted as Marchand won his fourth Olympic gold medal. The roar was so loud that the first heat of the 400m decathlon was delayed.
At the French Olympic House, nearly 20,000 gathered outside to watch Marchand end his dominant run at the pool, including 19-year-old Arthur Oursel.
“He's a hero,” Oursel said. “He is our hero.”
With French President Emmanuel Macron among the more than 15,000 fans cheering him on in a rugby stadium turned natatorium, Marchand soared to another runaway victory in the 200-meter individual medley on Friday night.
“I don't think anything went wrong this week,” Marchand said. “It was just perfect.”
The 22-year-old French phenom left no doubt that he will be remembered as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Games in his home country. He finished in an Olympic record time of 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, matching Ryan Lochte's 13-year-old world mark.
That was about the only thing he didn't accomplish in six magical days at La Defense Arena, having previously won the 400 IM, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke — the latter two about two hours apart in the same session.
Marchand became just the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to win four individual golds in a single event.
The others? Michael Phelps, who did it in both 2004 and 2008; Mark Spitz 1972; and East German Kristin Otto in 1988.
An awesome company, really.
“It's crazy. Those guys are legends,” Marchand said. “I don't think I've realized it yet. I might do that in a few days.”
The silver went to Britain's Duncan Scott, a body length behind in 1:55.31. China's Wang Shun took the bronze in 1:56.00, giving American Carson Foster a spot on the podium.
What a night for France
A packed house at La Defense Arena came to cheer on their favorite son once again. They chanted, sang “Sweet Caroline”, waved the French tricolor flag and unveiled a huge tifo on the upper deck.
After Marchand touched the wall, he held up four fingers – one for each gold. He climbed out of the pool, pumped his fists, then stretched out his arms as if to say, “What more could you want?”
Not one thing.
He had done it all, more than living up to his nation's expectations and the comparisons to Phelps, who was here to cheer Marchand on. What might have been a burden for some athletes only seemed to propel Marchand to even greater heights.
Macron shook Marchand's hand during Friday's celebration and sent his congratulations via social media.
“The impossible is not French!” Macron wrote in French. “Four home golds and a new Olympic record – that's historic. It's Leon Marchand.”
Marchand was thoroughly enjoying his moment, as his American coach Bob Bowman – Phelps' coach, in a fitting touch – had encouraged him to do.
He led the fans behind the podium in a cheer before climbing to the top step once more. The crowd erupted in their most rousing rendition of “La Marseillaise” yet – although of course they've had plenty of chances to work the French national anthem this week.
Chants of “Leon! Leon! Leon!” filled the arena as soon as the anthem was finished. Someone held up a sign that just says “Merci Leon.”
“I am extremely proud,” Marchand said, “to be French.”
Australian gold for McEvoy, McKeown
Before Marchand's triumph, Cameron McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown won more gold for Australia.
McEvoy touched first in the 50 freestyle, denying Caeleb Dressel a repeat in swimming's busiest event. McKeown followed with a victory in the 200 backstroke, becoming the first female swimmer to sweep the backstroke at two straight Summer Games.
Asked if she could have imagined such a feat, McKeown said: “Not in a million years.”
McEvoy became the first Australian man to win gold at those Games, and McKeown quickly increased his country's total to an Olympic-leading seven golds overall – three more than both the United States and Marchand, who is essentially a country unto herself.
McKeown noted what a great time this is for women's sports, following in the footsteps of athletes like Simone Biles and Caitlin Clark to highlight female athletes.
“Not just Australian girls, but the whole world and women's sport has been unreal this year,” McKeown said. – It's fantastic to be a part of it.
McEvoy made it from one end of the pool to the other in 21.25, edging Benjamin Proud of Britain by five hundredths of a second. Florent Manaudou of France gave the home crowd another thrill by taking the bronze in 21.56.
Dressel, who won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, finished sixth in 21.61.
McKeown rallied again, as she did in the 100 backstroke, to chase down perennial American runner-up Regan Smith. The winning time was an Olympic record of 2:03.73, breaking the mark set by Missy Franklin at the 2012 London Games.
Another silver for Regan Smith
Smith clocked in at 2:04.26 for the fifth silver medal of her career, to go along with a single bronze. She has yet to win gold.
The bronze went to Canada's Kylie Masse in 2:05.57.
Smith insisted she was happy with the result, although a gold medal was just out of reach.
“If I had got a silver medal and I had been a second slower, I think I would have been really disappointed in myself because it wasn't putting my best foot forward. It wasn't what I was capable of doing,” said Smith .” That's one of my fastest times ever. I think I really gave Kaylee a chance and I made things really close and exciting. So I'm happy with that.”
Dressel falls short
The American star qualified in two individual events, and he will not win a medal in either of them.
Shortly after his sixth-place finish in the 50 freestyle, he returned to the pool for the semifinals of the 100 butterfly—another of the events he won in Tokyo.
Dressel was unable to complete the grueling double and managed just the 13th fastest time to miss the final Saturday night.
He anchored the United States to gold in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay for the eighth gold medal of his career.
It was disappointing for one of the biggest stars of the Tokyo Games, but not too unexpected given what he has been through.
A year after the pandemic-delayed 2021 Olympics, Dressel retired from swimming in the middle of the world championships.
He desperately needed a break to recapture his love of swimming, which is still a bit of a work in progress. Dressel seems much happier now that he welcomed his first child about five months ago, but he couldn't recapture the blazing speed of three years ago.
“Obviously not my best work,” Dressel said. “I've had a lot of fun but this hasn't been my best week. I don't think I need to take it down.”
He has one more relay left in Paris, giving him another shot at his ninth career gold.
Dressel would like to go out on a high note, as these games have been “a little heartbreaking, a little heartbreaking for sure.”
After leaving the pool deck, he broke down in tears.
