Now that Leon Marchand has entered another dimension with his four Olympic titles, his coach Bob Bowman predicts difficult times for the Frenchman for the rest of his career.
Léon Marchand’s path is the rise to gold of a kid full of talent. The French swimmer was highly anticipated for these Paris Olympic Games, and he did more than live up to the hype by completing a legendary journey, marked by four titles in as many individual events.
Bob Bowman, the coach who shaped him (with Frenchman Nicolas Castel), has pulled it off once again. But according to the legendary American coach, the hardest part is just beginning. Because something is going to change for Léon Marchand after these Olympics.
” It’s so sad “
“I haven’t spoken to him about it much in recent months, I’ve been deliberately vague about the emotions, the meaning that possible victories at the Games would have, Bob Bowman confided to L’Equipe on the eve of the opening ceremony, in comments published this weekend. All year, I forced myself to factually mark out his path and everything he could control, in order to free his mind. But I already knew that he was going to lose something. And that my job was precisely to lead him to this loss. In a way, it’s so sad. From now on, Léon will no longer belong to himself, people will appropriate him, deprive him of his carefree nature and the simple pleasure of swimming.
French swimming has had its share of comets, Laure Manaudou and Yannick Agnel, heroes of one edition of the Olympic Games, and for whom the rest has not been what one might imagine. You have to digest the change in status, manage the new celebrity, and above all keep your motivation to inflict the countless hours and kilometers of training necessary.
How to stay motivated?
Bob Bowman will therefore be paying close attention to what happens next, and does not look very favorably on Léon Marchand’s desire to stay in Toulouse, France, until December, rather than returning to the United States. “That’s the plan. Even if it might be difficult to stay in France for so long with his new status,” confided the American coach, this Sunday in L’Equipe.
The focus on him can wear him out pretty quickly. I mean, it’s great, but it’s too much! It’ll be quieter in Texas. The good thing is I’m better prepared to guide him into this new dimension than I was with Michael (Phelps).” And yes, because even Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian in history, has known dark times on a personal level.
For Bob Bowman, the goal is to keep his protégé at the highest level during the next Olympics, by finding new challenges for him in the years to come. “I’m really looking forward to Los Angeles, each year to come will be a step towards the 2028 Games. Next season, he will test himself on new events, promet the american coach. When you see the university record he set in the 500 yards (4’2″31)… This distance is correlated to the 200m, so we’re going to spend time working on the crawl.”
