2024 Olympics: Katie Ledecky, Leon Marchand lead the way to an historic night of swimming in Paris

Olympic swimming always provides good theater and worthwhile racing to capture the attention of sports fans every four years. But in the first four days of these Olympics, the compelling storylines were ebbing as much as they were flowing.

From Saturday through Tuesday, the pool in Paris gave us a few unexpected results, the unfortunate emergence of an alleged "slow pool " that was supposedly leading to a glaring lack of record-breaking times, plus a spell of some American disappointment.

On Wednesday, we got the big splash we'd been waiting for. These are the days that make the Olympics feel enormous.

An anticipated day at La Défense Arena became the biggest night of the year in swimming -- and one of the all-timers in Olympic history. It's likely to be referenced back through multiple future Olympic cycles, given the history achieved, the talent involved and the variety of headline-making gold medal swims that were made by four people from four nations in five disciplines.

China, France, Sweden and the United States took home gold medals, each winning plunge memorable for different reasons. Wednesday's gamut of events had all you could ask for: legendary names, world-record holders, emerging superstars, shocking upsets and one fabulous finish after another.

The night belonged to the new king of France: Léon Marchand, 22-years old and quickly turning into the face of swimming on a global scale. Heretofore, no Olympian had ever won medals -- let alone gold -- in the butterfly and the breaststroke at the same Olympics.

On Wednesday night, Marchand did it in less than two hours .

And not only did he medal, he won two golds by setting a pair of Olympic records and beating former Olympic champions swimming alongside him in each event. Marchand became the first French native to win three gold medals in swimming -- nabbing two in one day. (His third, in the 400-meter individual medley, came on Saturday.)

The first of Marchand's two golds on Wednesday was in the 200-meter butterfly, where he was easily expected to hit the podium but was no guarantee to win gold. His come-from-behind win in the final 25 meters instantly goes down as the stuff of legend not just in France, but in Olympic swimming. Hungarian Kristóf Milák -- the reigning world champion, Olympic champion and world record holder in the event -- was caught by Marchand after the Frenchman's absurd final turn got him to within striking distance.

Then, this:

Marchand's final 50-meter split vaults up there Jason Lezak's final 50 in the 2008 Beijing Games as one of the most riveting comeback paddles ever. As if the thousands of French were powering him to first by will of a nation's pride.

And he was only halfway done.

In the 200-meter breaststroke, Marchand was going up against a pair of former world record holders in the event: Japan's Ippei Watanabe and Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook, who won gold in Tokyo three years ago and set the Olympic record. Stubblety-Cook also won the world championships medal for the event earlier this year.

Neither stood a chance against Marchand and his army of supporters, who again were chanting in rhythmic unison as he bobbed up out of the water to gasp air on his way to a gold medal-winning 2:05.85 time. Marchand got off to a phenomenal start and never flirted with being caught -- beating Stubblety-Cook's push for silver by almost a second (2:06.79).

On NBC afterward, none other than the greatest swimmer in history called Marchand's triumph one of the most amazing accomplishments in swimming history.

"That's probably the greatest double I've ever seen in the history of the sport," Michael Phelps said.

Marchand became the first person since East Germany's Kornelia Ender in 1976 to win two individual gold medals on the same day, but Ender's accomplishment has been effectively dismissed after the fact by almost everyone in the sport due to East Germany's proven ties to cheating and doping over multiple Olympic cycles.

Marchand's Games aren't done. He's still the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday, and it would be stunning if he didn't hit the podium there as well. A marvelous night for Marchand, France, the Olympics and swimming, which seldom gets these kind of results that transcend the niche nature of a sport that has a small-but-maniacal following.

If it had only been Marchand's accomplishments, it still would have been a historic night for Olympic swimming. Yet there was so much more.

Ledecky again turns an alleged race into a one-woman spectacle

The biggest name in swimming, of course, dodged the drama yet again. In her signature event, the 1,500-meter freestyle, American swimming icon Katie Ledecky merely needed to dive into the pool to officially materialize what everyone acknowledged as inevitable: another gold medal.

Ledecky, as she has for more than a decade now, laughably cruised past her so-called competitors in the nearly a mile-long swim, clocking in at 15:30.02 and securing her eighth-fastest 1,500 ever . It was also good enough for an Olympic record, but bear in mind that women didn't have an opportunity to race the 1,500 in the Olympics until the Tokyo Games. Ledecky, in essence, validated its inclusion going forward. She should have more gold medals than her five, a tally that could rise when she swims in the 800-meter freestyle later this week.

Ledecky bested her Tokyo time by more than five seconds. This is her signature event, the one she'll be remembered for generations from now.

Even if expected, it doesn't make her accomplishment any less amazing. There has never been a long-distance swimmer as dominant as Ledecky, and it's hard to imagine anyone else ever separating themselves from the field the way she has.

After Wednesday's gold, Ledecky now owns the 20 fastest times ever in the 1,500. She hasn't been beaten in the 1,500 in 14 years -- since she was 13. That's more than half her life ago. She's won 37 consecutive races in the discipline. You can make the case that no American athlete has ever been more dominant in one single thing than Katie Ledecky in the 1,500-meter freestyle.

"I kind of let my mind wander during the race, thinking of all the people that have trained with me, just kind of saying their names in my head and thinking of them," Ledecky said on NBC afterward.

It's no surprise to learn that Ledecky's stranglehold on this event is so good, she's able to mentally free herself from the hell that is swimming almost a full mile with the best athletes in the world in her wake ... and it not matter a splash. Ledecky's gold ties her with fellow U.S. swimmers Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer.

Thompson and Ledecky each claim eight, but again, Ledecky will have that record to herself if she wins the 800 free on Saturday.

First world record of Paris Games comes in the men's 100 free

Here's the outcome that put Wednesday over the top. The final event of the night provided an eye-opening result: China's Pan Zhanle swam the men's 100-meter freestyle in world record time: 46.40. Being that no human had ever swam 100 meters that fast officially before Wednesday night, the time is of course wowing. Being that Pan is Chinese, and that China in the past year had two swimmers test positive for a steroid (but were cleared by Chinese anti-doping authorities, per the New York Times ), the win landed somewhat awkwardly for those in the swimming world.

Regardless, Pan's swim will go down as an all-timer. He beat the silver, bronze and fourth-place takers by more than a second.

"That's mind-blowing to me," Phelps said on NBC moments after the race finished. "I don't think I've ever seen a win of that margin in that race, I don't think, in my career. And to go 46.4? That's unheard of."

Adding to the drama, consider this: Kyle Chalmers of Australia (47.48), Romania's David Popovici (47.49) and Hungary's Nandor Nemeth (47.50) were more than a second behind Pan's time, yet they were each separate by one-one hundredth of a second. Such an outrageous finish.

The Chinese have been subject to much speculation due to testing protocols with the World Anti-Doping Agency that have been vociferously challenged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, in addition to high-profile athletes like Phelps speaking out as well.

A downright stunner in the women's 100-meter freestyle

It was the first medal race of the day, and it set the tone for all that was to follow. The women's 100-meter freestyle was won by the world record holder in the discipline, but few thought 30-year-old Sarah Sjöström would actually win the thing.

That includes Sjöström, by the way.

"I never thought a 30-year-old woman could win this event," Sjöström said on NBC less than five minutes after winning with a 51.16 time.

Her thought was with good reason; Sjöström became the oldest woman to ever take gold in the event. She held off American Torri Huske (52.29), who won silver. She also beat the favorite, Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan, who'd won this event in the world championships in 2022 and 2023, yet was fourth on Wednesday.

Not bad for a 30-year-old who admitted she needed to be convinced to race in this by her coach.

"I've done many things in my career but I've never, ever surprised myself as much as I did here," Sjöström said on NBC.

She also said she had seen this ending in her dreams. Greatness. Sjöström set the world record in the women's 100m freestyle back in 2017. Despite that, she'd never won first place in an Olympics of world championship in this event. It was a loaded field -- and she won from swimming in lane 7. That almost never happens.

The Olympics have this ability to provide such irresistible theater. Five golds for four swimmers at four very different points in their competitive lives. One of them an American swimming icon, the greatest ever in her sport. Another, the next face of swimming, emerging from France and become a legend in under two hours' time. The third a world record holder from China, bursting into the pool and winning in unprecedented fashion. Then the 30-year-old Swede who needed to be nudged into even competing before going out and shocking everyone, herself included.

What a day for France. What a night for the Olympics. What an all-timer for swimming.