French Swimming Phenom Leon Marchand Accomplishes Olympic Feat Not Done In 48 Years

France is having a fantastic start to the Summer Olympic Games as the host nation, and they’re outperforming expectations in Paris. While he’s not necessarily exceeding expectations, he’s a big part of their outstanding first week.

The 22-year-old swimmer is without a doubt the best swimmer in the world and probably the best swimmer altogether since Michael Phelps retired at the end of the Rio Olympics in 2016.  And, on Wednesday night, Marchand made history.

Marchand, who ironically is coached by the man who coached Michael Phelps, Bob Bowman, did something that not even the great Michael Phelps ever did when he won two individual swimming events on the same day.

Marchand already had one gold medal under his belt coming into his historic Wednesday night performance,  as he won the 4×100 individual medley. On Wednesday, he had the finals of the 200m Breaststroke and the 200m Butterfly in a span of about two hours from each other and won both.

He had a huge comeback in the 200M butterfly, and set a new Olympic record in 1:51.21 in the event in front of a raucous crowd.

Then,  he set another Olympic Record in the 200m Breaststroke at 2:05.85

Two individual gold medals in the same day is incredible. Phelps won two golds in the same day as well, but one of the golds was always a relay.

Leon Marchand became the first swimmer since 1976 to win two golds in one day, as East German Kornelia Ender was the last to do it. Eleven Summer Olympic Games have come and gone since then.

And, he became the first swimmer to win medals in both the breaststroke and butterfly.

Right now, he is probably the biggest national hero in all of France. With the 200IM and maybe a relay or two left, the three-time gold medalist will have opportunities to add to his tally. And, at just 22 years old, he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.