Leon Marchand won four gold medals, each with an Olympic record, in his four individual races at Paris 2024.
French swimmer Leon Merchand overturned Paris Olympics with golden glitter. Not One, but four golds were taken from the depth of the swimming pool, That too with an Olympic record. Leon is now the new heir to the crown after Michael Phelps.
Merchand’s journey so far in Paris has been without much of a challenge. In the men’s 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly, 200m and 400m Medley none of his competitors came close to the Frenchman. The 5th Gold was lost out of reach in 4*100 meter Relay, but managed to get the bronze.
Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, are the some others who got more than 4 or 5 Golds in a Single Olympics. He also became the first swimmer to win two gold medals in one day since the 1976 Olympics. Bob Bowman, who was the coach and mentor of Michael Phelps, is teaching the French star the strategy and tactics. The US Swimming coach is making champions the hard ways.
Throuh Flashbacks
Leon Merchand’s family is familiar with success in the pool. His mother Celine, stepped in to the swimming pool in 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Although his father and mother were swimmers, he was interested in Judo and Rugby since childhood. At the age of seven, he comes to his way of parents. He was Trained and coached by Nicolas Castel in the Toulouse club until 2021, That was the turning point in his life. He took Golds in Free style, Butterfly, Breast stroke, at junior Level. At the age of fifteen, he announced his arrival in the French championship. Bronze at the 2019 World Junior European Championships, Even though he fought in Tokyo, didn’t got any medals. Later joining with the legendary trainer Bowman was a turning point in his growth .
Digging Golds in Paris
Training at Arizona state University made the swimmer León a Proficient swimmer. In the next year’s World Championships, he won 2 gold and a silver. In Fukuoka world Aquatic championship, he won first prize in 200 meter butterfly, 200 meter medley, 400 meter medley Items. And then it happened in Paris too just as the opponents had feared.
