Léon Marchand wins historic gold medal: First in 48 years to claim two individual Olympic events in same night

Léon Marchand was already a breakout star of these Olympics. Now, he's a breakout star of historic proportions. The French swimming sensation completed the ultra-rare same-day double, winning gold in the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breststroke Wednesday. He's the first swimmer to win multiple individual Olympic gold medals on the same day since East Germany's Kornelia Ender in 1976.

Marchand's momentous accomplishment came in dramatic fashion. In the 200-meter butterfly, Marchand swam an Olympic-record 1:51.21, chasing down world record holder (and previous Olympic record holder) Kristof Milak of Hungary.

Urged on by a raucous home-country crowd, Marchand swam the final 50 meters in a stunning 28.9 seconds, using a huge final turn to ignite his comeback. Marchand's coach, Bob Bowman -- who also coached Michael Phelps -- has called Marchand's underwater skill the best he's ever seen, and it was very much on display here.

In the 200-meter breaststroke, taking place under two hours after the butterfly, Marchand got off to a fast start and never looked back. Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook, known for his closing kick, simply didn't have enough to catch up. For the second time in one night, Marchand not only won gold but took the Olympic record from its previous holder: Marchand's 2:05.85 bested Stubblety-Cook's 2:06.38 from Tokyo 2020.

This time, Marchand was much more animated, slapping the water and pumping his fist as the home crowd reached fever pitch, having witnessed something not done in nearly 50 years.

Marchand is also the first swimmer ever to win the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke in the same Olympics, much less on the same night.

These are Marchand's second and third golds of these games after he won the 400-meter individual medley -- and set a world record while doing so -- on Sunday. He is also scheduled to swim the 200-meter individual medley, with preliminary heats for that event beginning Thursday.