HISTORIC DOUBLE. France’s swimmer Leon Marchand acknowledges the enthusiastic home crowd at the podium after winning historic double gold in one session in the ongoing Paris Olympics on Wednesday (July 31, 2024). Marchand is the first swimmer in history to win the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke at the same Games. (Anadolu photo)
ISTANBUL – France's Leon Marchand won a historic double gold to become a double Olympic champion in one session Wednesday.
Marchand, 22, became the first swimmer in history to win the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke at the same Games.
"This marks Marchand as the first French swimmer to ever take three gold medals, and he did it all within four days in front of an enthusiastic home crowd of over 15,000 in the Olympic Aquatics Centre," Paris 2024 said in a statement.
"Less than two hours earlier, Marchand dethroned Hungary’s Kristof Milak in the 200m butterfly final. Milak still holds the world record in that event, but the Olympic record he set at Tokyo 2020 was broken by Marchand."
The French swimmer bagged the gold medal of the day in the 200-meter butterfly, setting an Olympic record with a time of 1:51.21 ahead of Milak and Canada’s Ilya Kharun. (Anadolu)
