Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps weren't far fetched at all when it comes to Léon Marchand.
They certainly weren't a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman.
Two grueling races about two hours apart. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals, from the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke.
Take that, Phelps, who did several doubles of his own while claiming a record eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I’m a really shy person,” Marchand said. "I was kind of the center of attention during those two races. I was trying to get the energy from the whole crowd. They’re amazing to me, pushing me in every final.”
Thrilling the French fans and claiming the spotlight even on a night when Katie Ledecky romped to another gold medal, Marchand notched his second and third victories at La Defense Arena and stamped himself — with the Olympics not even a week old — as one of the faces of the Paris Games.
After rallying to beat world-record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristóf Milák in the 200 fly with a finishing kick for the ages, Marchand made it look easy in the 200 breast.
He led all the way, touching in 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds as more than 15,000 fans — many of them holding up cardboard cutouts of his smiling face — nearly blew the roof off La Defense Arena.
“Léon! Léon! Léon!” they screamed, a chant that was sure to carry on through the night in Paris.
Marchand gets thing rolling
Trailing most of the way in the 200 fly, Marchand surged past the Hungarian Milák on the final lap to finish with an Olympic record of 1:51.21, touching first by just by .54 of a second.
Marchand's final lap was nearly 0.66 faster than anyone else in the field — and 1.26 clear of Milák.
“I’ve been watching so many races from him," Marchand said. "I know he has a lot of speed, way more than me, so I was just trying to get as close as possible, and then just push it until the end.”
The bronze went to Canada’s Ilya Kharun.
Following up his dominating victory in the 400 individual medley on Sunday, Marchand waved one finger and shook his head just a bit, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he had done.
Then, he hustled off the deck to another rousing cheer to begin his warm down, though those preparations were interrupted by a mandatory return for the victory ceremony.
After a boisterous rendition of “La Marseillaise,” the other two medalists walked slowly around the pool, getting their pictures made.
Not Marchand. He hustled back to the practice pool. There was another race to go.
He then blew away the field in the 200 breaststroke with an Olympic record of 2:05.85, knocking off another champion from Tokyo.
Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook settled for the silver this time, nearly a second behind in 2:06.79. Claiming the bronze was Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands.
“The most exciting part of that whole race and watching him soak it all up and have his moment,” Stubblety-Cook said. "I think it’s awesome. It’s great for the sport of swimming and it’s great to see the better half of 15,000 people chanting one person’s name and watching swimming live.”
Marchand climbed out of the pool and stared at the scoreboard. He tussled his mop of curly hair a few times, then threw his arms in the air.
His work was done, at least for a few hours. Next up is the 200 individual medley, which begins with heats Thursday morning.
“I’m so very proud of him,” said his coach, American Bob Bowman, who also was Phelps' coach. “That’s a tremendous, historic effort.”
China's Pan Zhanle sets first swimming world record of Paris Games
Nearly lost in all the hoopla was China’s Pan Zhanle setting the first world record of these Games, breaking his own mark in the 100 freestyle.
He won in 46.40, easily knocking off the mark of 46.80 he set in February at the world championships in Doha.
It was an impressive performance given the shallow pool at La Defense Arena, which has been cited as the big reason no world records fell over the first four days of the meet.
Australia's Kyle Chalmers claimed the silver and David Popovici of Romania nabbed the bronze.
Swedish gold for 5-time Olympian Sjöström
Sarah Sjöström made her fifth Olympics a gold-medal celebration with a victory in the 100 freestyle.
Sjöström had pared down her program at the last two world championships, swimming only the 50 free. She decided to add the 100 at the Paris Games, and boy did that decision pay off.
Her winning time was 52.16, with the U.S. settling for another silver medal — its eighth of the swimming competition — when Torri Huske finished in 52.29. Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong took the bronze.