He had missed the pool. After an unforgettable summer and a break of a month and a half, Léon Marchand resumed training yesterday, on the island of Ramier with Dauphins du Toec.
Léon Marchand was all smiles as he approached the Castex pool yesterday morning. After 43 days without training, it was back to school time for the four-time Olympic champion who had not swum since Sunday, August 4, the date of the 4x100m medley final in which the Blues won the bronze medal. “He was very happy to start again. He told us that he missed him and at the same time he came down a little”, we say within the Dauphins du Toec club.
After long weeks of celebrations that extended into Saturday, on the Champs Elysées – he was notably decorated with the Legion of Honor by Emmanuel Macron – Marchand made a tailored recovery with Nicolas Castel's group. “He starts two weeks behind the other swimmers in the group, so he uses their dynamics, he does the same thing but with less intensity. We do it according to his feelings,” explains his coach.
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A training yesterday morning, another at the end of the afternoon and according to Michel Coloma, the general manager of the Toulouse club, “Léon has not changed at all. He told us a bit about his day-to-day life after the Games, “it was nice. People told him “thank you for making us happy”, Léon was happy and very moved by it.
“Above all, he goes there to have fun…”
Still as close as ever to Nicolas Castel, Marchand doesn't seem to have lost an inch despite a well-deserved holiday. A short stay in Greece, another in Ibiza in the Balearic Islands (Spain), but the champion still looked as sharp as ever. “It's rather 'fit' isn't it?” laughs his coach. Well, he's obviously less prominent than during the Games, but that's normal, he cut out everything, especially weight training, but remained active during the month of “August”. , he didn't spend his summer eating on the couch.”
The Pink City's new sports star's schedule until his return to the United States (scheduled for December or January, a date has not yet been set) is in any case full. The Toulouse player will participate in three rounds of the Asian World Cup this fall. First in Shanghai (China, from 18 to 20 October), in Incheon (South Korea, from 24 to 26 October) and finally in Singapore (from 31 October to 2 November). Then the World Short Course Championships in Budapest (December 10-15) will come to test you.
“He's going there above all to have fun, there will be no pressure, the Games are behind him and the World Cup will be fun above all,” explains Castel. The opportunity, for example, to test yourself in the 200m freestyle to add a new string to your bow? “Maybe,” his trainer smiles. Marchand, on the other hand, decided not to participate in the French short course championships. Tomorrow, he will be at the Capitol to enjoy another crowd bath, this time facing the Toulouse he has made so proud.