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For several decades, the image of Gaston Boiteux jumping into the pool fully clothed and wearing a beret to celebrate his son Jean’s victory in the 400m freestyle at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics was the only photo to represent French swimming. This photo of the first French Olympic champion in the history of 50m pool racing went viral but was merely followed by a few silver or bronze medals. Compared to the great swimming nations, these are just a few drops in the ocean.
We had to wait over 50 years to hear the Marseillaise again on the Olympic pools. On the top step of the podium, Laure Manaudou made her mark and totally revolutionized the world of swimming by becoming the first women’s Olympic champion in French swimming at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Manaudou is a turning point. She embarked on a series of victories for French swimming and paved the way for an era of success, ushering in a golden generation.
This generation, which includes some exceptional swimmers, has been thrilling France for a good ten years. Alain Bernard, Camille Muffat, Yannick Agnel, Fabien Gillot, Jeremy Stravius, Camille Lacourt and Laure’s brother Florent Manaudou were all Olympic or world champions during the 2007-2016 decade. A collective force that placed France among the world’s elite and was endowed with a mental approach that pushed swimmers to compete with the best. Yet none of these swimmers managed to position themselves among the Top of the Top French sportsmen and women. No swimmer has achieved the status of Prost, Fourcade, Perec, Loeb or Riner. In swimming, athletes have to consistently secure a lot of victories over an extended period of time. The likes of Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky have set the bar extremely high. To be part of the world’s elite, swimmers have to win dozens of races.
After this glorious episode and the retirement of its champions, Les Bleus have clearly scaled back, as they returned to square zero. In Rio in 2016, Les Bleus left the Olympic fortnight without a single gold medal. A year later, the French delegation at the Budapest World Championships was the smallest since 2001.
But then a new phenomenon emerged: Léon Marchand. In just two years, Marchand managed to captivate the swimming world. The Toulouse native moved to the US to train with Bob Bowman, the man behind Michael Phelps’ success. The fruits of his labor swiftly materialized: two gold medals in 2022 at the world championships in Budapest, and four medals in 2023 at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where he beat the oldest surviving world record by more than a second, the 400m medley set by Phelps in 2008.
In Fukuoka, it was not Léon’s father who jumped into the pool, but Michael Phelps himself, who fell into his arms. L’Équipe, a sports newspaper, featured the headline “Adoubé,” with the giant Phelps lifting young Marchand’s arm on the front page.
“I’m glad I don’t have to swim today, I wouldn’t like to have him as a rival,” the newspaper quoted Phelps as saying.
Marchand, at just 21, is undoubtedly the best swimmer in the history of French swimming. Now a regular in lane four, the favored lane of champions, he has already broken the record for individual gold medals at world championships with an impressive tally of five medals. Next year, he will complete his list of achievements at the Paris Olympics. He still has huge challenges ahead of him: to be the best French athlete in all sports and to challenge the world hierarchy in swimming. He has already broken into the world’s Top 12 and could break into the Top Five in Singapore in 2025. His physique, his magical stroke, his winning mentality and the environment in which he evolves are all assets for his personal development and improved performance. His only drawback: he seems a little isolated within the French team and has little chance of winning medals in relays at the moment (two fourth places in Fukuoka).
Records to beat:
Within reach: Martin Fourcade’s five Olympic gold medals
Out of reach: Michael Phelps’ 26 world championship titles (33 medals in total) and 23 Olympic gold medals (28 medals in total). But Marchand can easily aim for the Top Three in the world rankings.
Long live Paris 2024 and Singapore 2025!