Swimming World Cup: Paris Olympics star Leon Marchand savours break from post-Games glare
France’s quadruple gold medallist heads to Singapore this weekend, and is enjoying the relative anonymity of his time in Asia
Leon Marchand, a quadruple Olympic gold medallist at Paris 2024 and the man dubbed the “next Michael Phelps”, said he was enjoying the relative anonymity of swimming in Asia.
Speaking in Incheon, South Korea, where the Frenchman competed in a World Cup meeting last weekend, Marchand also admitted he was hoping to take his foot off the pedal this season after his extraordinary period in the global spotlight.
The 22-year-old became the poster boy for his home Olympics, winning golds in 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke and a 200m-400m individual medley double.
It made him the first male swimmer to achieve that combination at a single Games since Phelps in 2008.
And when Marchand competed in Paris, the rhythmic roar of “Leon, Leon” in the La Defense Arena became a sound that anyone who witnessed it will long remember.
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“There was so much pressure around the Olympics that I think I really need to relax in the upcoming season,” Marchand said. “It does me good to do competitions with less at stake.”
