Interesting Fact: Leon Marchand's individual tally would be ranked in Top 10 of Paris Olympics medal standings

Leon Marchand's medal tally at Paris Olympics would be tenth in the medal tally if it was considered as that of a single nation. The Frenchman won the the 200m individual medley, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke and 400m individual medley at the quadrennial Games.

The former Arizona State University athlete competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but finished sixth in the 400m individual medley, 14th in the 200m butterfly, 18th in the 200m individual medley and tenth in the 4x400m medley relay. Fast forward to now, he finished on top in three of the aforementioned events at the 2024 Summer Games.

His maiden Olympic gold came in the 400m individual medley, which made him the first French swimmer since 2012 to earn an Olympic gold. Marchand then won the 200m butterfly and swam the 200m breaststroke in an Olympic record time of 2:05.85. He topped off his win streak with the 200m medley gold, thus becoming the first French swimmer to clinch four golds in a single edition of the Olympics.

Leon Marchand would be tenth on the Olympic medal table had he been a country, ahead of Canada who are currently tenth with three golds.

France are currently second in the medal tally in the ongoing edition of the Games with 11 golds. More than a third of them have been won by Marchand alone.

Michael Phelps on Leon Marchand - "He's gonna make a lot of noise"

Marchand at the Paris Olympics (Source: Getty)

On July 31, Michael Phelps was present to watch the swimmers live in action at the Paris La Defense Arena. On withnessing Marchand claim the double win and create history, Phelps put his finger on Marchand's prowess and issued that Marchand will make a lot of noise.

"That's probably the greatest double I've ever seen in the history of the sport. To be able to go 1:52 and 2:05 — the kid can obviously swim, we know that, and if we didn't know it before, he's gonna be here for a long time. He's gonna make a lot of noise," Phelps said on NBC.

In the 200m butterfly finals in Paris, Leon Marchand lowered Kristof Milak's Olympic record time and Phelps' standing in the event. The 22-year-old currently holds second spot in the all-time 200m butterfly list. Leon Marchand holds five World Championship gold medals and four Olympic medals as of now.