A whole arena was about to collapse and a whole nation was struck by joy.
French star Leon Marchand, 22, handled the pressure and secured the nation's first Olympic Games gold in swimming in twelve years when he won the 400 meter medley.
The atmosphere was completely crazy. I got goosebumps before and during the race, he says.
Marchand has become the poster boy of the Paris Games and is being compared to American Olympic king Michael Phelps, who won 23 Olympic Games gold medals.
The Frenchman is trained by Phelps' mentor Bob Bowman at Arizona State University.
He still has a way to go to reach Phelps. Marchand took his first Olympic Games gold after picking up five World Championship gold medals in 2022 and 2023.
Two of them were in the 400 meter medley, where he also broke Phelps' world record from 2008 last year.
He has an enormous pressure on him in Paris and the home supporters hope that he can pick up gold in all four distances he swims.
The 400 meter medley was the most anticipated.
Already a quarter of an hour before the race, which kicked off Sunday's final session, a nearly sold-out Paris La Defense Arena, 15,000 spectators, began chanting "Leon, Leon, Leon" in unison.
The noise level was about to lift the roof. Marchand took an early lead and was completely superior. His 4.02,95 was only 45 hundredths of a second over the world record, and second-placed Tomoyuki Matsushita, Japan, was nearly six seconds behind.
I've dreamed about this beforehand. Getting to do this is cool, says the Toulouse-born swimmer.
Among the first congratulators was French President Emmanuel Macron, who called him up.
He told me that he watched the race with his whole family and that everyone screamed when I won, says Marchand according to AP.
Correction: In an earlier version, Leon Marchand's first name was incorrectly stated.
