DJ sets with David Guetta, private movie screenings, and sailing trips: Leon Marchand savours post-Paris 2024 holiday and makes more big plans
This was a year to remember for Leon Marchand and the 22-year-old has no plans to slow down as he heads into the final stretch of the year. We looked at the champion's next goals and the many adventures he has had since shooting to Olympic superstardom.
Swimming
Leon Marchand is mere days away from jumping into a competition pool again.
The short-course World Aquatics Swimming World Cup opener in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China, taking place between 18 and 20 October, will be his first competition since a dazzling Paris 2024 campaign where the French swimmer won five Olympic medals, including four individual golds. While much of the time in between these meets was spent training, Marchand also took time off to savour his new Olympic fame and dabble in his hobbies – now acutely aware of the spotlight fixated on him.
"I'm probably going to lose a bit of freedom and spontaneity," Marchand told L'Equipe about how Paris 2024 changed his life. "The first few weeks after the Games were a bit complicated because it was quite radical, but it's OK, I'm handling it well. I'm taking it well because it's really kind, it's all positive. People thank me in the street and I take it to heart. At the pool, there aren't too many people waiting for me. After the training, of course I can't go to a restaurant just like that or go shopping alone anymore. I need to plan ahead, to go with other people, or else, I hide under a cap and glasses. For the most part, that's enough."
Olympics.com looked back at the adventures Marchand has had in the 10 weeks since he last jumped into the Paris La Défense Arena pool and what the champion swimmer did to re-energise ahead of the final batch of races in his unforgettable 2024 year.
Leon Marchand post-Paris 2024: Splashing into headlines outside the pool
Marchand took six weeks off after his Paris 2024 heroics and has since been spotted at a variety of locations, each more glamorous than the next. Red carpets, sailboats, and beach parties replaced pool tiles and warm-up rooms for the superstar swimmer as he made the most of his rare holiday.
He joined world-renowned DJ David Guetta behind the turntable at Ushuaia Beach in Ibiza in late August, and got an exclusive invite to a private screening of Kaizen documentary on 13 September together with French table tennis brothers, Felix and Alexis Lebrun. The documentary chronicles how YouTube influencer Inoxtag climbed Mount Everest with one year's preparation.
A day after posing for photos with the Lebruns, Marchand was the centre of attention again, receiving one of the loudest fan welcomes during the Champions Parade on Champs-Elysees in Paris. The star-studded event also saw him bestowed with the French Legion of Honour award by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Another warm welcome awaited him at the Place de Capitole in Toulouse as the swimmer returned to his hometown for a local Paris 2024 celebration on 18 September.
Ten days later, on 28 September, Marchand was among the spectators himself as he stood next to the cage of an MMA fight between Benoit Saint Denis and Brazil's Renato Moicano in Paris, one in a packed audience of 16,000 people.
"It's incredible. It's the first time I've seen UFC live like that. There's a show and everything," Marchand told RMC Sport after. "I really enjoyed it and the strength of the blows. It was super impressive."
Marchand's post-Paris 2024 adventures did not end there. On 5 October he accepted an invite from French sailors Francois Gabart and Tom Laperche to jump into their 37-metre trimaran SVR Lazartigue and speed through the waters – this time without the help of swimming strokes – near Saint-Tropez.
Back to training, with a fresh spin
The four-time Olympic champion returned to training in September with club TOEC Dolphins in Toulouse. It is a familiar pool, but still a change of location for Marchand who has mostly trained in Arizona, USA, in the four years leading up to Paris 2024. It also marked a return to his old coach.
While Marchand continues to work with Bob Bowman in the States and will return to full-time training with him in 2025, his Toulouse-based coach is Nicolas Castel. The duo worked together before Marchand's move to the US in 2021.
Marchand returned to the pool with an adapted training programme. While it was less intense than his usual training, the swimmer shared that it was still tricky to rediscover his rhythm after a lengthy time off.
“It was hard to get back into it. It’s the first time I’ve taken so much vacation. As a result, the sensations weren’t very good in the water, and I discovered that I had a lot of aches and pains," Marchand told L'Equipe, before adding with a smile: "On the other hand, I can still swim pretty fast.”
Leon Marchand's new goals: Swim, swim faster... and write a song?
Marchand, who has now gone pro, has a busy schedule to cap off his unforgettable year. He will next compete at the three stages of the swimming World Cup: in Shanghai, Incheon, Republic of Korea (24-26 October) and Singapore (31 October-3 November).
The World Cup events take place in short course pools and will serve as preparation for the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), held in Budapest, Hungary from 10 to 15 December. They could also prove the perfect opportunity for the medley, breaststroke, and butterfly specialist to try racing the 200m freestyle event.
"He wants to have fun," Castel said. "He wants to discover this pattern since he has never participated in the World Cups. It will be a good exercise for him to prepare for the Short Course World Championships."
A return to the United States in early 2025 is also in the plans. Marchand will resume training under Bowman in Austin, Texas next year to prepare for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, and has clear objectives for his next meets.
“My goal is not to win," he told Canal+. "It’s to surpass myself and be better than the day before."
The swimmer also gave a hint of the goals he may set after his sporting career – now in full bloom – is over. Music and astrophysics are two things Marchand finds particularly interesting, and he has already tried his hand at composing beats and writing.
“I know I won’t spend my whole life in a pool. I have a plan B and it allows me to let loose in the water during competitions,” he told Canal+. “My goal later is to share and bear witness. When I won, my eyes were wide open. I tried to take a mental snapshot to better describe it later.”
Could a song about Paris 2024 be in the works for the versatile swimmer? With the capacity that Marchand has to make the seemingly impossible become reality, anything seems possible.