On Wednesday night, France erupted with Léon Marchand and the French swimmers. 8 races on the agenda, including 5 finals and 6 French swimmers in action. At the end of this emotional night, we interviewed Nora, a French fan. We take a look back at the craziest night in French swimming.
The Olympics are back in France after 100 years. What is it like to experience the Games at home?
Nora: It is a great feeling, and I have to say that the infrastructures are top-notch, with some extraordinary venues: the Grand Palais, beach volleyball on the Champ de Mars, the horse-riding events at Versailles, and so on.
In every stadium, you can see the fans setting the mood. The French go wild and push their athletes. You can really feel the French athletes letting themselves be carried along by the public. Right now (Wednesday evening), we are the 2nd-ranked nation in the medals ranking, that is awesome!
The public is having a great time at every event, and it is great to see everyone pulling together. We really have to make the most of it, because we will probably only get to experience a home Olympics once in our lifetime.
How was your night?
I arrived at the pool quite early, around 7:20 pm. The organization is really good, there are a lot of people but we are moving fast with very little downtime. So congratulations to the volunteers and the organization.
The pressure gradually built up, with light effects projected onto the water, before the first final got underway. It was a superb race, with Sarah Sjöström winning the women's 100 m freestyle in the last touch.
Then Léon Marchand made history in the 200 m butterfly final. With a memorable final 50 m, he went on to win Olympic gold, setting an Olympic record as well.
There were also some really nice semi-finals, notably in the men's 200 m backstroke and a superb race by Mewen Tomac, who will be in the final. The women's 1500 m was also breathtaking. Katie Ledecky, ultra-favorite, assumed her status, but behind her the Frenchwoman (Anastasiia Kirpichnikova) swam the whole race in 2nd place and won the first women's swimming medal of these Olympic Games for France.
Léon Marchand put the icing on the cake in the 200 m breaststroke final. He was the boss of the race, leading from start to finish. He gave no chance to the other swimmers from the 1st stroke, and won by setting a new Olympic record.
What performance stood out for you this evening?
Even if Sarah Sjöström is one of my favorite swimmers, I have to say L. Marchand performance in the 200 m butterfly final.
The France and the whole world expected him to win this race, but it was clearly not a foregone conclusion. The specialists did not necessarily expect him to finish first on the 200 m butterfly race.
Kristóf Milák holds the world record on the distance and was the reigning Olympic champion. He was the favorite, he dominated the whole race and in the last 50 m, Léon graphed centimeter by centimeter to finally touch first. The crowd went wild at that point!
Léon gives us a dream Olympic Games: 3 races, 3 gold medals, 3 Olympic records.
Tell us about the atmosphere?
Crazy, just crazy, almost out of proportion. The public reacted as soon as French swimmers got into action and supported them throughout the race. I've never seen anything like it, and the speakers even had to ask for silence at times because the crowd was so loud.
During Léon's 200 m breaststroke, the whole pool shouted in rhythm as he lifted his head out of the water. Everyone follows the rhythm of the race and I imagine it carries the swimmer even more.
In a nutshell, one word: magic.
Was there anything in particular that surprised you?
Once again, the atmosphere in general. I was expecting a special experience tonight, but it was beyond anything I could have imagined. As a sportswoman and sports fan, I've never experienced anything like this in any stadium.
I even saw on social medias that in other venues, the crowd was behind Léon for these 2 finals. The public was there, everywhere, and we can really say hats off to the public.
Thanks to Nora for answering a few questions. Congratulations to the French swimmers on their performances - we will remember it for a long time to come!