Can you believe that a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming could hate water? Well, buckle up, because that’s the story of Leon Marchand. After one of the most iconic Olympic runs in Paris, he recently reflected on a near-disaster that almost made him quit swimming! It all began in Toulouse, France.

Marchand’s parents, Xavier Marchand and Céline Bonnet, both Olympic champions, believed that it was important for Leon to know the ways of the water. Talking about the same, he said, “ My parents wanted me to learn to swim, which is really important, and then it was easy because my parents were at the TAC in Toulouse it’s a bit of a family thing, so I went I went swimming when I was seven years old.” However, the early days weren’t all sunshine and rainbows for Leon.

As the conversation unfolded, Leon Marchand went on to talk about how the water was initially not his friend. “I had a bit of trouble I was I was very cold in the water,” he said. But that’s not all! Despite Marchand being fast in the pool, he often got bullied for being skinnier than his peers. As you can imagine, this ended up adding to young Leon’s frustrations. “I often waited at the wall because I was still faster than the others already,” he shared, “but that’s it, it wasn’t very fun for me. I was spinning at the wall; I was freezing, so I stopped.” Imagine being so good in the pool yet not having the fun-filled days that children often experience in sports! Luckily, the story doesn’t end there!

Leon soon went on a break for a couple of years, where Marchand found a trainer who rekindled his love for swimming. “She made me do other things, different things, and more challenging for me,” he said. “You actually have to find pleasure or fun to do something—that’s how I recovered this energy.”  With that renewed sense of purpose and the inherent speed, it wasn’t long before Leon Marchand became the talk of the world! Who knew that a childhood incident could lead to a swimming prodigy finding his niche? And just when you think this story cannot get any better. Here’s some news: it has only just begun. In fact, Marchand is off to his next adventure.

The love has today put Marchand in the “Tremendous 12”!

After winning golds in 200 m breaststroke, 200 m butterfly, 200 m medley, and 400 m medley at the Paris Olympics, Leon Marchand is off to conquer something new. He is now prepping for the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2024. But that’s not the most interesting part! Marchand will be one of the coveted ‘Tremendous 12’. The ‘Tremendous 12’ is a group of the world’s best swimmers who will come head to head at the World Cup.

They will compete in a series of short-course races (25 meters, unlike the Olympic standard of 50 meters). The events will take place across three locations: Shanghai, Incheon, and Singapore. The twelve include Kaylee McKeown, Kate Douglass, and Pan Zhanle, amongst others. Marchand, however, seems rather calm and collected about it. While talking about the upcoming Worlds, he said, “I have the World Cups at the end of October, so it’s in Asia.”

However, Leon Marchand went on to add, “I need to swim before that; otherwise, it will be very complicated. But I was invited, so I will take a trip. I’m going to love it; it’s going to be three weeks there.” That statement made it clear that he is not taking the upcoming competition lightly. After all, it was in the same championships last year that Leon broke Micheal Phelps’ record. And now, it seems like Leon is Leon’s biggest competition. The only is, will he be able to keep up his Paris performance?