Who is Léon Marchand? Meet the Olympic wunderkind and ...

A swimming scion, Marchand is the product of what could be called an Olympic swimming dynasty: Marchand’s father, Xavier, swam medley at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics; his mother, Celia Bonnet, competed at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, at the same time as Leon’s uncle Christophe Marchand. He wasn’t immediately the dextrous superhuman swimmer we see today, according to the New York Times, his parents promised him a McDonald’s when he was four or five if he could swim 25 metres of butterfly in their local pool in Toulouse. His parents, knowing the commitment the sport requires, never forced it upon their son – it's a sport he came round to.

The Michael Phelps comparisons are not solely rooted in their shared aquatic dominance. Marchand trains with the man who famously coached Phelps his entire career: Bob Bowman. Marchand reportedly reached out to Bowman at Arizona State University asking if he’d consider having him on his team. ‘I had no idea he’d be this good,’ Bowman told the New York Times. This good? He’s become the darling of the nation and the face of the Olympic Games. Paris is his… and there's still two gold medals for the taking. Paris 2024 will be remembered as Marchand’s Olympic Games.