Michael Phelps' former coach Bob Bowman's foreign prodigies Leon Marchand and others surpass Team USA swimmers in medal tally

Modified Aug 03, 2024 07:50 GMT

Leon Marchand has won yet another gold medal at Paris Olympics, this time in 200m individual medley. The French swimmer fell a little short of the world record set by Ryan Lochte, as he clocked 1 minute, 54.06 seconds to win his fourth gold medal.

However, that is not all. With this gold medal, Leon Marchand's coach Bob Bowman [who also coached Michael Phelps once] has achieved more Olympic gold medals with his foreign students than the USA has achieved in total at the Paris Olympics.

The United States have won four gold medals in swimming, including the one won by the Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay.

The last time the nation was in single digits in terms of the gold medals won in swimming was at Seoul Olympics in 1988, where they won eight golds overall, though they stood second overall in terms of the medals won.

Leon Marchand with the gold medal from 200m Individual Medley event at the Paris Olympics [Image Sources: Getty]

On the other hand, Bob Bowman's foreign students have won five Olympic gold medals, with Leon Marchand winning four of them alone. Hubert Kos, also a student of Bob Bowman, won a gold medal in the men's 200m backstroke event, with a timing of 1 minute, 54.26 seconds.

Bob Bowman on Leon Marchand turning pro ahead of the Paris Olympics

Bob Bowman watching Leon Marchand in action at Paris Olympics [Image for Representational Purposes] [Image Source: Getty]

Leon Marchand's association with Bob Bowman goes as long back as 2021, when Bob Bowman was part of the Arizona State University as a coach, and thr Frenchman was a student.

Marchand won at least 11 medals from the NCAA Championships during 2022 and 2023, which include two in the former and three in the latter

However, ahead of the Paris Olympics, the Frenchman decided that he would turn professional. The decision was announced by none other than Bob Bowman himself, who revealed [via swimswam.com],

"He is pro, he'll be a pro....he is a pro, that's it".

Bob Bowman also revealed that Marchand's plan of turning professional was final, irrespective of whether Bowman moved to the University of Texas or not. In his own words [via swimswam.com] ,

"He was going to do that at ASU. He was going to be finished with the NCAA after this past meet [the NCAA Championships]."

Leon Marchand has participated in four individual events at the Paris Olympics : the men's 200m breaststroke, the men's 200m butterfly, the men's 200m individual medley, and the men's 200m individual medley, and he won all four of them. He will now be aiming for at least a podium finish in the men's 4x100m medley relay event, whose finals will be held tonight.