{"id":578568,"date":"2024-02-20T05:57:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T12:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=578568"},"modified":"2024-02-21T05:27:08","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T12:27:08","slug":"leon-marchand-set-to-be-the-face-of-the-olympic-games-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leon-marchand-set-to-be-the-face-of-the-olympic-games-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Marchand Set to Be the Face of the Olympic Games in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leon Marchand Set to Be the Face of the Olympic Games in Paris<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leon Marchand<\/em><\/strong> has accomplished so much in the last three years that his career won\u2019t be solely defined by 10 days in Paris in the summer of 2024, swimming at the Olympics in his home country. But he has a chance to author an unforgettable Olympic moment: as a Frenchman serving as one of the faces of the Paris Olympics…as one of the world\u2019s top swimmers…and as an athlete who can make the events in the pool appointment viewing in Paris.<\/em><\/p>\n

Leon Marchand<\/strong> was firmly fixed in the present. But it was hard not to have an eye toward the future.<\/p>\n

Marchand\u2019s performances at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka were sufficiently sensational in their own right to wow. But every transcendent moment entailed an obvious corollary\u2014of what this achievement could mean 11 months down the road when the Olympics will open in his home country.<\/p>\n

Marchand didn\u2019t have the luxury of such a long view, focused as he was on the imperative of each swim. But those around him didn\u2019t fail to notice, to extrapolate and to hope. Many of those happened to be expert witnesses in the matter of what it takes to face the monumental pressure of the Olympic stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m most pleased with how he handled the pressure of the performances,\u201d Coach Bob Bowman<\/strong> said in Fukuoka. \u201cI think the best part about Leon\u2019s week is how he moved from race to race to race\u2014the prelims, the semis and the finals\u2014and improved each time. He handled his energy well, and he managed the outside expectations well. I\u2019m very pleased with that, and I\u2019m pleased with how he put together each individual race.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE LONG ROAD TO PARIS<\/strong><\/p>\n

The groundwork for Paris began long before Tokyo, but that Olympics marked an important early step. Marchand had just turned 19 when the pandemic-delayed Games opened, having developed so much in that previous 12 months.<\/p>\n

Medals were not the primary objective. Experience was. So he got his feet wet, understanding the spectacle of the Olympics so that he would know at least part of the territory three years later. He got to experience the disappointment of not making semis in the 200 individual medley; the opportunity of swimming a semifinal in the 200 butterfly; and the lesson learned from being tested in his first Olympic final, finishing sixth in the 400 IM, less than a second away from what would\u2019ve been an ahead-of-schedule podium spot.<\/p>\n

Most of the steps since then have been managed by advisors who understand what it could take for Marchand to meet his astronomical aspirations. The native of Toulouse is the child of two Olympians, Xavier Marchand<\/strong> and Celine Bonnet<\/strong>. Xavier trained for six months late in his career at Auburn University, watching the Tigers under David Marsh<\/strong> win an NCAA title. Much as they may have lightly dissuaded Leon from following the arduous path of life in swimming, once that became a losing battle, they recognized NCAA competition his best pathway to improvement.<\/p>\n

\"Leon

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

That put Marchand into the orbit of Bowman, the International Swimming Hall of Famer and former coach of Michael Phelps<\/strong>. Marchand has used his steady diet of racing at Arizona State as a launching pad. It\u2019s a different path than Phelps, who never swam collegiately and was more judicious in when he chose to race. But it has worked wonders for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted Leon to go to a place where he was going to get great training, but also have good guidance,\u201d Xavier said. \u201cWe knew Bob would give that to him and would take care of him. He thinks about what is best for Leon, and he\u2019s done this before. He knows what is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The similarities between Phelps and Marchand are myriad, right down to their chosen areas of specialty. As Marchand swims his way out of commonality with most mortals, Phelps has become something of a mentor, present in Fukuoka on the commentary team to watch Marchand take down his world record in the 400 IM.<\/p>\n

Phelps is the most recent analogue to the kind of pressure Marchand will likely feel. The Frenchman won\u2019t be chasing something like Phelps\u2019 eight-in-\u201908 in Paris, deprived of Phelps\u2019 near guaranteed relay medals. (French fans may have a deserved snicker at that.)<\/p>\n

To Phelps, the fact that Marchand has made significant headway on his goals in terms of time and records lessens some of the pressure that will come when he\u2019s behind the blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be important for him to swim the way he knows how to swim,\u201d Phelps said in Fukuoka. \u201cHe\u2019s going to get a lot of attention over the next year. It\u2019s almost better that he swam the time he had here (in the 400 medley) just so that kind of pressure is off him. I knew he was going to break it. It was a matter of time. And once you break it, it\u2019s kind of out of your mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think about doing it again. You think about beating yourself. So if he can do that, the only pressure he\u2019ll have is the pressure he puts on himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE HOME GRASS ISN\u2019T ALWAYS GREENER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Proximity to home isn\u2019t always a guarantor of Olympic success. Or at least it hasn\u2019t been since the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.<\/p>\n

The returns of Olympic swimming medals for host nations this century have been paltry. Greece\u2019s unsurprisingly shutout at the 2004 Athens Games notwithstanding, traditional swimming powers have hosted the last four Games, and their delegations have struggled under the spotlight.<\/p>\n

At the 2008 Beijing Games, China won just one gold (Liu Zige<\/strong> in the women\u2019s 200 fly) and six total medals. Contrast that to the four gold and 10 medals a year later at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.<\/p>\n

Great Britain\u2019s yield from the 2012 London Games was three medals, none of them gold. (After double gold in Beijing, Rebecca Adlington<\/strong>, the program\u2019s leading light, ended up with a pair of bronzes.) Brazil was shutout in the pool in Rio in 2016 after five medals (two golds) four years prior. Its only swimming medal came via Poliana Okimoto<\/strong> in the women\u2019s 10K open water marathon.<\/p>\n

Japan won seven medals at the Rio Olympics. That output fell to three in Tokyo, with only Yui Ohashi\u2019s<\/strong> double medley gold saving the home country significant blushes, as a number of veterans on the men\u2019s side in particular underperformed.<\/p>\n

\"leon-marchand-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

Marchand at least won\u2019t chase Olympic glory alone. While he is the French program\u2019s standard bearer, he doesn\u2019t stand by himself at the vanguard. Maxime Grousset<\/strong> is coming off three medals in Fukuoka, winning gold in the 100 fly and bronze in the 100 free. At 33 and 12 years removed from Olympic gold, Florent Manaudou<\/strong> may not be an individual medal threat anymore, but he could aid in the relays and certainly will absorb some of the limelight. Four Frenchwomen made finals at Worlds, though the closest to a medal (distance swimmer Anastasiya Kirpichnikova<\/strong>) faces a daunting field.<\/p>\n

If competing was the only criteria, then things would be easier. But that\u2019s not the reality of the international multi-billion-dollar entertainment spectacle that the Olympics are. Marchand will be pulled in many different directions to befit his ubiquity in ads and promotional materials.<\/p>\n

But here, too, Bowman will offer more than just his on-deck training to Marchand\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very good at saying no,\u201d Bowman said in Fukuoka, with a smile that indicated he was not joking. \u201cI kind of understand that. I\u2019m maybe uniquely qualified for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take that message from someone who knows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he has one really good thing in his corner, and that\u2019s Bob,\u201d Phelps said. \u201cI mean, Bob watched every step of my career, and I think he\u2019s in a better spot than he was with me. He\u2019s more relaxed, more laid back. Bob is the maestro. He\u2019s probably been planning for this for years. He\u2019s not going to miss a step, and he\u2019ll probably do it in a more productive way than we did it. And I don\u2019t mean that in a bad way. We learned so much in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE CITY OF LIGHT\u2019S BRIGHTEST LIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marchand will arrive at the Paris Olympics as the world record holder in the 400 IM, in all likelihood. He will enter as the unquestioned favorite in both IMs. He\u2019ll have his choice of 200-meter strokes, though that\u2019ll require a battle with the best 200 butterflyer in history (Kristof Milak<\/strong>, albeit after a limited last year of competition) and the best 200 breaststroker in history (Qin Haiyang<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lot of expectation. But he\u2019ll have every step of it mapped out, a process that has included pushing himself to doubles at every chance, including in NCAA college competition.<\/p>\n

\"Leon

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

One possible pressure valve in this program could be in the relays. France won an Olympic relay medal as recently as 2016, with silver in the 400 free. They finished fourth in the 800 free relay in Fukuoka, with a squad devoid of big names beyond Marchand and his anchor leg of 1:44.89, and fourth in the medley relay. The latter, especially if Manaudou can turn back the clock for a killer anchor leg to complement Marchand and Grousset, may be the best route to a medal.<\/p>\n

Even more so than Phelps, Marchand has extensive experience in the relays from his time with the Sun Devils. Having three other swimmers up there with him necessarily spreads out the spotlight. The medley in particular, falling on the final day of the competition, could serve as the light at the end of a long tunnel, the exhale after his individual events are done.<\/p>\n

Whatever swirls about him outside the pool, Marchand has one part of this process down. He\u2019s so often provided mind-blowing swims\u2014internationally and for Arizona State\u2014that he knows what it is to carry expectations with him behind the blocks. He\u2019s reached a rare echelon where it can seem a disappointment when his swims end without an NCAA or world record. To say nothing of the pressure of winning, he puts on himself the weight of blazing new frontiers in the sport, professing a desire in Fukuoka to fundamentally change the sport.<\/p>\n

That desire burns from within. And in certain moments, it might make the external pressure pale in comparison.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I can handle the pressure pretty well right now,\u201d Marchand said. \u201cIt\u2019s not perfect. It can be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

View a Complimentary Digital Issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leon Marchand Set to Be the Face of the Olympic Games in Paris Leon Marchand has accomplished so much in the last three years that his career won\u2019t be solely<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8367,"featured_media":533894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,122074,10],"tags":[70616,10818,77336],"class_list":["post-578568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-europe","category-world","tag-2024-olympic-games-coverage-paris","tag-bob-bowman","tag-leon-marchand"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nLeon Marchand Set to Be the Face of the Olympic Games in Paris<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Frenchman Leon Marchand is a bona fide superstar in the sport and set to be the face of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leon-marchand-set-to-be-the-face-of-the-olympic-games-in-paris\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leon Marchand Set to Be the Face of the Olympic Games in Paris\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Frenchman Leon Marchand is a bona fide superstar in the sport and set to be the face of the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leon-marchand-set-to-be-the-face-of-the-olympic-games-in-paris\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-20T12:57:47+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-21T12:27:08+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230727_AMas_AM50454-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew De George - 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