Paris 2024 Olympics. “We finally did it”, “I did something crazy”: the reactions of Léon Marchand and the Blues after a historic bronze

Grousset, Ndoye-Brouard, Marchand et Manaudou ont décroché le bronze, derrière les USA et la Chine. EPA – MAST IRHAM

Léon Marchand, Florent Manaudou, Maxime Grousset and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard won the first medal in the history of the French 4×100 medley relay on Sunday, August 4. A bronze received with much emotion by the quartet.

Yohann Ndoye-Brouard

“I've been dreaming about it for 3-4 years, I work every day for it. I saw earlier that I was the 43rd French medalist. It's a fairly selective club so… When Florent touched, it was mixed, I thought we were going to win. When he touched, I realized we were 3rd. That's it, we have the medal. It was an explosion. I thanked them all for making me experience such emotions. Sharing it all four of us is huge. I've been doing this relay for a while now, I felt like there was something to do. We finally did it. We had missed out several times, we had succeeded in the Europeans, not in the World, but we did it at the Olympics, it's great. When it's shared, I feel like it's even more beautiful."

Léon Marchand

“It's shared so the joy is a bit multiplied. I think that at the 300 meters, with Yo (Ndoye Brouard) we hugged each other because we saw ourselves first. I see Flo (Manaudou) who is starting one of his last races at home, it did something special to me in terms of emotions, it was huge. And then we touch third. Olympic medal, it's great. That's five out of five for me at the time (5/6 in fact, Editor's note). Tonight I'm going to remember it, it was a great team, we were with family, with friends. We really enjoyed the moment.

This relay is still under construction. We have a lot of things to do. We'll be there in four years.

Being in the call room with Florent (Manaudou) was huge. I watched him on TV. When I saw him leave, I was so excited.

There is a lot of fatigue but now I am on vacation. I did something crazy. I'm so happy. It’s incredible. I left for a medal, I came back with five. I'm so happy."

Maxime Grousset

"I’I was sure we were going to do it. We all had a great race. We swam really well, we achieved a great time in the end.

This week, I experienced disappointment after disappointment (twice 5th, Editor's note) but I knew that I had the level and that I was in good shape. For the team, I was able to re-mobilize quite naturally. There, I felt the adrenaline on the plot, the emotions. I swam with my heart."

Florent Manaudou

“I had tasted an Olympic team medal, in Rio, which had a slightly different flavor because we wanted to win it. I have experienced many gold medals at the World Championships, at the European Championships, but never at the Olympics with energy like that. It comes back to me but my last 4×100 4 medley was in Shanghai, in 2011, we came 9th in the series and I had taken a box. It was one of my first races in the French team, tonight one of my last. I think I'll continue for a while longer, but it kind of closes the loop that I started 13 years ago.

Thanks to Léon (Marchand) for putting us on a great springboard the first few days, we managed to finish it well. This team looked great when we all came back. It's just crazy, we won't experience any more emotions like that as athletes. That's what I told the boys, you had to enjoy it, keep these memories in your head. I still have tears in my eyes even though it's the 6th Olympic medal.

I was also moved to run with Léon. He has taken a place in the French team and in French sport that is indescribable. He doesn't realize it yet. I told him: “Dude, you'll see when you walk the streets soon, it will be different”.