Léon Marchand held up four fingers.
One for every gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
His dominating run through the Summer Games is complete.
With French President Emmanuel Macron among the more than 15,000 fans cheering him on in person, Marchand captured his fourth swimming gold with another runaway victory in the 200-meter individual medley Friday night.
The 22-year-old French star left no doubt he'll be remembered as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Games in his home country. He finished in an Olympic record of 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, just missing Ryan Lochte's 13-year-old world mark.
That was about the only thing he didn't accomplish at La Defense Arena, where he had previously won the 400 IM, 200 butterly and 200 backstroke — the latter two about two hours apart in the same night.
The silver went to Britain’s Duncan Scott, a body length behind at 1:55.31. China’s Wang Shun grabbed the bronze in 1:56.00, edging out American Carson Foster for a spot on the podium.
A packed house at La Defense Arena came to party one more night with their favorite son. They chanted, sang “Sweet Caroline,” waved the French tricolore flag and unveiled a huge tifo in the upper deck.
Marchand climbed from the pool, pumped his fists, then held out his arms as if to say, “What more could you want?”
Not a thing.
He had done it all, more than fulfilling the expectations of his nation and the comparisons to Michael Phelps.
What might have been a burden to some athletes only seemed to push Marchand to even greater heights.
