By Rohith Nair
PARIS (Reuters) - Leon Marchand's coach Bob Bowman said the French swimmer handled the pressure of performing and delivering on home turf in the Olympics perfectly after the 22-year-old sensationally swept the gold medals in all four events he entered at the Paris Games.
Marchand won the 400m individual medley, then the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke on the same night, and finally the 200m individual medley on Friday to earn hero status in France as he shot to the top of the medal charts among individual athletes.
"It's an incredible series of events. I feel like he did everything that we could possibly expect of him in this environment, in this sort of lead-up and preparation," Bowman told reporters.
"He couldn't have handled himself better in between all the races. So it was just a complete success... He's just 100% successful. So I'm very proud of him, it takes a lot to be perfect."
Bowman, who coached Olympic great Michael Phelps, said Marchand "manages himself very well", knowing exactly what to do with his warm-ups, his practice timings, his recovery process and his diet.
The veteran coach also said swimming on home turf certainly helped as the crowd at a packed La Defense Arena got their money's worth when Marchand broke Phelps's 200m medley Olympic record from 2008.
"I think the closest I've seen was maybe Sydney in 2000 when (Ian) Thorpe swam. I remember when Thorpe swam the 400m there, I felt like the building was shaking and it was kind of like this," he said.
Bowman said the Frenchman was only getting started and could also swim in other events in the future, like the 100m butterfly when he gets older and stronger.
"I think he can break it (records) in other events. He gave me some ammunition for the whole next year by not breaking that one," Bowman said.
"So now we have a goal, right? We have things to work toward."
But first, Marchand will have a few weeks off to soak in his achievements and live with the newfound fame and money that comes with being the athlete that lit up France's home Olympics and Bowman said he hopes his student remains grounded.
"For the first time, Leon's going to go out into this environment in a very different life situation than he was before," he said.
"At some point I'll try to reel him back in and in six weeks or so, we'll see if we can't get him started.
"But for now, he gets a break because he really does need a break. He needs a mental break and a physical break."
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Paris; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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