The combination of exceptional athletes, a home stage, a global television audience and the excitement of the stands converges in a breathtaking moment, and rarely has that moment yielded an atmosphere and performance that somehow surpasses that epic height.
That was the effect of Marchand, the 22-year-old from Toulouse, on Sunday night with a powerful performance in the 400-meter individual medley, known as the most demanding event in swimming, yet somehow made it look easy for him.
Marchand's time of 4 minutes 2.95 seconds was enough to win the race by 5.67 seconds, the largest margin of victory ever in the event, breaking the Olympic record set by Michael Phelps in Beijing in 2008. Only in the final 50 meters did Marchand run under his own world record pace when he broke Phelps' 2009 world standard a year ago, signaling his emergence as an international force.
“I tried to focus on myself, but it was really tough with 15,000 people cheering for me,” Marchand said. “I tried to use this energy to swim as fast as I could and it worked. I tried to go as hard as I could from the start. The freestyle was a little tough at the end, but 4 minutes and 2 seconds is amazing, so I'm really surprised with my time today.”
From the moment Marchand touched the wall, the rest of his night was a whirlwind of controlled chaos.
He sat on the line of his lane and pumped his fist, the cheers of the crowd rising to deafening pitches with each movement, before he hauled his slender body out of the pool. He found his friends and family in the stadium's lower bowl, and they embraced him. He emerged on the top tier of the medal stand and led the crowd in a stirring, unison, powerful rendition of the French national anthem, “La Marseillaise.”
“It's very hard to put into words the feeling,” he said. “I think it's very rare to have an experience like this. I'm here, I'm feeling good, I've got the chance to perform on my own stage. [top] “I had to keep my eyes open and listen to everything that was going on around me, and that really motivated me to race well.”
Before Marchand arrived at his media appointment, he was handed a mobile phone. On the other end of the line was French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron seemed to do most of the talking, and Marchand's face was mostly in a toothy grin, but anyone with an eye for lip-synching could hear him occasionally reply with “merci beaucoup.”
“He told me that he watched the final with his whole family, they were all screaming and he really enjoyed that moment,” Marchand later told French reporters. “It was amazing.” The French president also wished success to the rest of the Olympic program, which includes the 200-meter individual medley, 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter breaststroke.
On Sunday, La Défense Arena was dotted with a vibrant group of people who formed a big circle of life around Marchand.
In the stands were his parents, both former French Olympic swimmers: his father, Xavier, a famed medley swimmer who had once been national champion and beat a young Phelps by nearly nine seconds;
Phelps himself was in the NBC broadcast booth, as he said goodbye to the Olympic record in the event on Sunday night, after his last world record was broken by Marchand a year ago.
And there, poolside, was Bob Bowman, who had made his name in the sport as Phelps' coach, guiding him to an unprecedented 23 Olympic gold medals. His reputation was so great that about four years ago, a young Marchand emailed him out of the blue, asking if he'd be interested in coaching a French kid who was 18 at the time, had big dreams and was racking up some interesting results in the individual medley.
“He's the best ever at this event,” said Bowman, who probably knows that better than anyone on the planet. “He can get better. He hasn't reached his potential yet. It was a great swim.” [But] He can definitely swim faster than that.”
Two hours before the session was due to start, the queue wrapped around the arena. Some fans were carrying air horns. Some had homemade masks of Marchand's face pulled over their own. French flag face paint was mandatory.
Once they were in their seats, they didn't have to wait long. The 400-meter individual medley final was the first race of the night, and Marchand, in the center lane of the pool, was introduced last. In contrast to Phelps's pre-race nerves, grimacing and downcast expression, Marchand strolled leisurely onto the pool deck and waved to the crowd with both hands. He even flashed a warm smile for the TV cameras following him.
At the time, it seemed like Marchand just wasn't ready to meet the moment with the right focus, and in hindsight, we can conclude that he simply knew what he was about to unleash.
“He was in a really good frame of mind before the race, he was relaxed, he had a really good nap in the afternoon,” Bowman said, “and I was really confident because he was just his normal self.”
The French call the four strokes in the medley papillon (butterfly), doss (backstroke), bras (breaststroke) and nage libre (freestyle), and Marchand dominated them all, winning until the end, leading by half a second over papillon and nearly three seconds over doss, the crowd getting louder and louder with every stroke.
But it was during the brass bells that the crowd erupted in unison, at the sound of Marchand's breathing. By the time he finished the race, the chlorine-poisoned swimmers could find no memories to compare with. Bowman, who has accompanied Phelps from Sydney to Athens, Beijing, London to Rio de Janeiro, says he has never experienced a more electric atmosphere at a swimming meet.
“I don't think anything like this has ever happened before,” Bowman said. “It was amazing. It was crazy.”
Marchand had been touted as the face of the Paris Olympics before the games began, which may have confused some, including many American viewers who knew little of his background.
But on Sunday night, millions finally got to see a face to that name: a young face, a warm face, with a bright smile atop the medal stand and a gold sculpture of the Eiffel Tower dangling from his neck.
