Léon Marchand's cold call email could end in homegrown Olympic glory

Former Arizona State University swimming coach Bob Bowman might have spiked a random email that showed up in his inbox four years ago if the sender's name hadn't rung a bell.

Marchand?

"Thinking back when I first got that email, the first thing I thought was, 'Marchand? Xavier Marchand?'" Bowman said recently of his prized pupil, Léon Marchand, and his father, Xavier Marchand, a two-time French Olympic swimmer. "I thought about his dad. I wonder if they are related and they were, of course."

Bowman, best known as the coach of all-time swimming great Michael Phelps, did some quick research to find out who this young, emailing stranger was.

"So then he basically said, 'Do you think maybe you'd be interested in having me on your team?'" said Bowman, who recently led ASU to the NCAA team swimming title before taking the head job at the University of Texas. "And then I looked up his times and I was like, 'Uh, yeah, most certainly we'd be happy to have you on our team.'"

Bowman coached Marchand to 10 NCAA titles at ASU and will be poolside in Paris when the French swimmer competes for his native land in home waters.

Marchand last year swam an all-time fastest 400-meter individual medley, breaking a record formerly held by Phelps.

And in his three seasons under Bowman at ASU, Marchand won a pool's worth of NCAA titles: three times in the 200 breast; twice in the 400 IM and the 200 IM; and once in the 500 free, 400 medley relay and 400 free relay.

And now he could be about a month away from becoming the toast of France as that nation's best hope for Olympic glory.

While many Olympians were absurd prodigies from the time they could first walk, jump or swim, Marchand said the preteen version of himself had no visions of glory.

He famously took two years out of the pool as a youngster because the water was too cold for his liking.

So when the International Olympic Committee, seven years ago, named Paris as 2024 host, Marchand’s reaction amounted to little more than a shrug.

“At that time, I was not really good at swimming. I was not even like thinking (of making) national finals and stuff,” he told NBC News recently. “So I don’t think it was really an idea (of Olympic swimming on home waters) in my mind. I just heard the news and I was, ‘I’m sure that’ll be cool to do it, but I’m so far from it.’”

But as the years went on — and NCAA and world meet titles piled up — Marchand gradually came to understand that French glory was within grasp.

"I grew up a lot because I was a tiny man and then from 17 to 20, I got way better every year. I started working more on my underwater," said Marchand, whose mother, Céline Bonnet, swam for France in the 1992 Olympics. "Definitely I got really excited every year more about it (possibly swimming at the Paris Olympics)."

Bowman has spoken openly about Marchand's Phelps-ian potential.

"I think Léon is fully capable of handling the pressure and performing (well in Paris)," he said of Marchand, the three-time College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America's male swimmer of the year.

NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines, who won 100-free gold in 1984, said he's stunned every time he hears Bowman uttering Marchand's name anywhere close to Phelps'.

"It's unbelievable that he would put anybody in the same sentence as Michael Phelps," Gaines said. "But I will say that Bob is correct when he talks about the potential of greatness for Léon."

And, of course, Marchand has no real chance of beating Father Time and matching Phelps' 28 medals, including 23 gold medals, both Olympic records.

That's because Phelps was just 19 when he won his first medals in Athens, Greece, in the ancient era of 2004. Phelps' last medals came 12 years later, at age 31, at an age when many elite swimmers have already touched the last walls of their career.

Marchand is 22 and will be seeking his first medal this summer.

"He didn't really show his greatness until the last 18 months. There’s no way, had you asked me three years ago, I would have believed he'd break a world record in the 400 IM, no way. Not happening. Never," Gaines said. "So he's come a long way in three short years and that could be a good thing. The pro is that he hasn't touched the surface yet of his capability."

Marchand could be France's best hope for a breakout, homegrown star of these Olympic Games.

"There's going to be a lot of great French athletes, but he's going to be the marquee name and that's a lot of pressure," Gaines said.

Gaines vividly recalled the emotions of swimming to chants of “USA, USA, USA!” back in the Los Angeles summer of 1984.

"I can only speak for myself, but for me, it (swimming in 1984 in U.S. waters) was definitely a motivator," Gaines said. "This is going to sound really corny, but when I walked out, I felt the energy through my body. The most people I had swam before was 20 people at the Olympic trials in Indy. But in L.A. there were 15,000, 20,000 people in the stands cheering for us, for Americans. I felt that energy. He's going to feel the same thing, and I used it in a positive way. I used that as a motivator and not something that was pressure."

Marchand insists he’s never closed his eyes to imagine what it could be like, standing on the podium’s top step with the tricolore rising and “La Marseillaise” playing before a roaring French audience.

"I like to keep it a surprise. I like to take it day by day," Marchand said. "Of course, I'll celebrate if I win, but I don’t visualize it."

Marchand donned a French swimming cap in the Covid-delayed Tokyo Games, finishing sixth in the 400 individual medley.

Marchand insists he's not the same swimmer he was three years ago, having dramatic improvements in his mental approach to the sport.

If he reaches the podium in Paris, Marchand said his ability to manage stress and block out nervousness would've been the keys to his success.

"When I was really nervous, I could not swim," Marchand said.

"So I worked on that (and have) tried to be as relaxed as possible before meets, during the meet and (have worked on) how to manage my energy the entire week," he said.

And now that he's no longer afraid of cold water, Marchand said he's looking forward to the swim meet of his life at La Défense Arena.

"I mean, for sure, that’d be amazing to win there in front of the French crowd at home; it’ll be like the best time to win, for sure," he said.