Five-time world swimming champion Léon Marchand is one of the spearheads of Paris 2024 and has already won a gold medal.
Like all French athletes, the goal is the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesLéon Marchand is no exception and dreams of being an Olympic champion. “My dream is to become an Olympic champion,” he explained. Whether it’s in Paris 2024 or Los Angeles 2028, that’s my long-term goal. The pressure? I know how to handle it, I don’t know, it’s the first time I’m going to experience that. I’m going to try to handle the pressure, I think I’m handling it well so far. I have a lot to handle for a 22-year-old guy, but I’ve been doing mental preparation for several years, my parents also help me a lot, they who have participated in the Olympics even if it wasn’t at home.” It’s done!
His complete program:
- 200m butterfly: heats on July 30 and 31 from 11 a.m., final from 8:36 p.m.
- 200m breaststroke: heats on July 30 and 31 from 11 a.m., final from 10:08 p.m.
- 200m medley: heats on August 1 and 2 from 11 a.m., final from 8:49 p.m.
- 4x100m relay: heats on August 9 from 11 a.m., final on August 10 from 7:12 p.m.
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Léon Marchand was born on May 17, 2002 in Toulouse and is the son of two former swimmers: Xavier Marchand, silver medalist at the world championships in the 200m medley in 1998, and Céline Bonnet, backstroke swimmer and medley specialist, who notably participated in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. His uncle, Christophe, is also a former Olympic swimmer, now sports director of a swimming pool in Clichy. The young “Léon” has obviously been swimming in pools since he was very young, even if he had a preference for judo and rugby before following in his parents’ footsteps, until being crowned French champion in the 200m butterfly in Rennes in 2019, making him the first French swimmer to achieve such a title at the age of 17. A few months later, he won a bronze medal in the 400m medley and the 200m breaststroke at the 2019 European Junior Championships. At the World Swimming Championships in Budapest in 2022, he left with three medals, including two gold.
Who are Léon Marchand’s parents?
Léon Marchand comes from a line of swimmers. His mother is simply Céline Bonnet, a backstroke specialist and several times French champion. His father, Xavier Marchand, is vice-world champion in the 200m medley in Perth, Australia, in 1998.
How tall is Leon Marchand?
The French swimmer, a specialist in the 400m medley, is a big guy in the world of swimming and measures 1.83m according to the latest data from the FFN.
Why did Leon Marchand go to Arizona?
The day after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where he took part in his first Olympic final, taking 6th place, Léon Marchand packed his bags to join Arizona State University and a certain Bob Bowman, former mentor of a certain Michael Phelps. Since then, the young prodigy has continued to progress and impress the United States. He made headlines in May 2022 when he broke the NCAA record for the 200-yard medley, previously held by Caeleb Dressel. A performance that was congratulated by… Michael Phelps on Instagram.
Beyond the results in the pool, Léon Marchand has simply evolved since his departure to the United States as he explained to 20 minutes in June 2022. “In bodybuilding, I did more “weightlifting”, more explosiveness. I am much more powerful. Mentally, I have gained autonomy and a lot of experience because I swam a lot in NCAA (the university championship in the United States). I did a lot of races, a lot of relays. In competition, I can now throw myself on the wall to win the race. I swam a lot with Bob (Bowman). I improved in backstroke, crawl. I have more assets than before. I simply swim faster.”
Leon Marchand and Bob Bowman
Based in the USA, Léon Marchand is under the legendary Bob Bowman, former mentor of Michael Phelps, and is learning a lot from the latter. “I was very impressed at first. But he’s really a great coach, with a lot of experience. I know I’ll be ready for all the competitions with him. And he’s really relaxed. He’s had a lot of results, so he’s cooler, we have a lot of fun in training while knowing in which direction we’re going, what we want to do. There’s a connection that’s been created between us.”