Mohamed Magdy  

38 se

Léon Marchand wins Olympic gold in 400 IM

Frenchman Léon Marchand electrified a partisan crowd Sunday with an Olympic record time in the swimming 400-meter individual medley before American Torri Huske and Italian Nicolo Martinenghi also won their first gold medals.

A capacity crowd filled Paris La Défense Arena, with thousands of fans decked out in bleu, blanc et rouge in hope of crowning a new national hero. Marchand did not disappoint.

His time of 42.95 broke the Olympic record of all-time great Michael Phelps and fell just short of the world record held by Marchand himself.

“I think it’s a dream for every one of us,” he told NBC, wearing the gold around his neck. “I got the chance to do it today. That was amazing. I don’t know how to describe it.”

About 13 minutes before the race started, fans spontaneously broke out in song with “La Marseillaise” and chanted “Léon, Léon, Léon!”

And once the race started, the deafening cheers got through to Marchand. As he pulled away from the field in the breaststroke, fans rhythmically cheered each time his head popped out of the water.

“The breaststroke was insane, because I could hear whole stadium, so that was amazing to do,” said Marchand.

#olympics_paris