Michael Phelps Was Going Crazy Watching Leon Marchand’s Comeback Win In The 200 Meter Butterfly

Michael Phelps’ 2008 Olympics performance is arguably the single most dominant Games by one athlete in history, as Phelps competed in eight events and won eight gold medals. This year, French swimming sensation Leon Marchand might not get to eight golds, as that’s dependent on the French relay teams, but he’s chasing a similar individual schedule as Phelps, competing in four individual events, and has the same coach as Phelps did, Bob Bowman.

After winning gold in the 400 individual medley on Sunday, Marchand spent Tuesday racing in the heats and semifinals of the 200 meter breaststroke and butterfly, earning one of the top seeds in both finals on Wednesday. The first of those finals was the 200m butterfly, which figured to be his stiffest test as Hungary’s Kristof Milak is the world record holder and reigning Olympic champion in the event.

At the final turn, Marchand was trailing by a considerable margin and was going to need an unbelievable final 50 meters to get his second gold of the Games. Phelps was in NBC’s Paris studio with Mike Tirico for Wednesday’s swimming events and was losing his mind watching Marchand’s closing 50, as he reeled in and passed the world record holder for the gold.

It’s always very cool to see elite athletes cheering on other elite athletes, but it’s especially the case for Phelps to be doing this for Marchand, who isn’t an American swimmer and is the closest thing we’ve seen to Phelps since he retired. Not every retired great would be rooting (much less rooting this hard) for their heir apparent, but Phelps loves seeing the young Frenchman getting his moment in Paris — Marchand also cruised to gold in the 200 meter breaststroke later in the evening for his third in three events.