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French swimmer Léon Marchand received his second and third gold medals on Wednesday night time to cement his place because the hometown hero and breakout star of the Paris Olympics.

Amid the deafening roar of hundreds of followers shouting his identify, the 22-year-old from Toulouse got here first within the 200m butterfly after which triumphed within the 200m breaststroke — a powerful efficiency given there have been solely two hours between the races.

Within the butterfly, Marchand confronted powerful competitors from Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, the defending champion and world document holder, however the Frenchman edged forward within the ultimate stretch to win and notch up a brand new Olympic document. 

Within the breaststroke, he once more set a brand new Olympic document and have become the primary swimmer to ever win medals in butterfly and breaststroke on the identical video games.

The outcomes will gas the Marchand mania that has gripped France because the softly spoken athlete received his first gold on Sunday by obliterating his opponents within the 400m particular person medley.

He has given the host nation a cause to rejoice even because the early days of the Paris video games had been marked by a controversial opening ceremony, setbacks to triathlon occasions within the River Seine, and sabotage towards France’s high-speed rail system.

Celebratory cheers could possibly be heard throughout Paris on Wednesday night time as bars and cafés arrange televisions for individuals to look at their new hero.

An enormous {photograph} of Marchand crouched in beginning place in a swim cap and goggles has been stretched over the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper in southern Paris.

Born right into a swimming household to folks who had been each one-time Olympians, Marchand is carrying France’s sporting hopes on his shoulders. 

His outcomes will assist decide if France can capitalise on dwelling benefit to fulfill its purpose to interrupt into the highest 5 international locations within the medals desk — which might be an enormous enchancment from previous performances.

France began Wednesday night time in fourth place, however with Marchand’s two golds, his nation shot as much as second behind China.

Marchand is planting a French flag in a sport lengthy dominated by Individuals like Michael Phelps, who received 28 Olympic gold medals and is the world’s most profitable swimmer, and Australian Ian Thorpe, who secured 9. 

Ever since Marchand broke Phelps’ world document within the 400m particular person medley final 12 months, the swimming world’s hype machine has sought to anoint the Frenchman as his successor. 

Marchand moved to Arizona to coach with Phelps’ former coach, Bob Bowman, who has helped him enhance every part from his turns to his restoration ways.

Certainly one of Bowman’s first contributions to Marchand’s arsenal was to present him Phelps’ warm-up routine, which he nonetheless makes use of. 

Therese Alshammar, a three-time Olympic medal swimmer for Sweden who now does commentary for Eurosport, cautioned towards comparisons, particularly since Marchand was simply beginning out.

“It’s wonderful that at 22 years previous he’s competing within the Olympics at dwelling and has not buckled beneath stress,” she mentioned.

“He’s beginning out on a path to be one of the remembered swimmers within the historical past of Europe, and perhaps the world, though Michael may need one thing to say about that.”

Bowman mentioned on Sunday that his protégé had the “complete package deal” of expertise for a champion.

“He’s obtained the pace, he’s obtained the endurance, he’s obtained the beneath waters,” the coach mentioned, referring to Marchand’s sinuous kicks at begins and on turns, and his skill to outlast opponents within the punishing underwater section of races.

Doing each the butterfly and the breaststroke was Marchand’s thought, in response to Bowman, who was not initially supportive.

“I used to be sort of leaning in the direction of simply doing one, even every week in the past. However he was fairly assured,” he mentioned on Wednesday night.

Marchand beamed throughout his second medal ceremony of Wednesday night time, and joined the gang as they belted out La Marseillaise, the French nationwide anthem. “It’s simply loopy to reside by way of this as a French swimmer,” he instructed reporters afterwards.

He mentioned he was channelling the deafening cheers from the house crowd, particularly throughout his come from behind win within the butterfly.

“I might hear the entire pool simply going loopy and I believe that’s why I used to be capable of win the race,” mentioned Marchand.