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PARIS — He’d been hyped as the host country’s hero before he even raced; anointed swimming’s heir to Michael Phelps before he had an Olympic medal. Léon Marchand was the face of the Paris Games before they began; the bearer of hope and Herculean expectation.
And on an ear-splitting Sunday night here at La Défense Arena, he lived up to every last ounce of it, winning in an Olympic-record time of 4:02.