Léon Marchand entered the history books on Wednesday night as the first man to win two gold medals in the swimming pool on the same day. His exploits in the 200m butterfly and the 200m breaststroke took his gold medal haul up to three following Sunday night's victory in the 400m individual medley.
During the final stages of the butterfly race at the Paris La Défense Arena, Marchand trailed the defending champion Kristof Milak.
But the 22-year-old Frenchman surged past the Hungarian to finish in one minute 51.21 seconds. Milak claimed the silver and Ilya Kharun from Canada took the bronze medal.
And less than two hours later, Marchand was again on the starting blocks.
He won the breaststroke in an Olympic record time of two minutes, 05.85 seconds.
Zac Stubblety-Cook was second and Caspar Corbeau from the Netherlands got the bronze.
"I think it will take a while for me to realise what I've done," said Marchand. "I'm just trying to keep going. I really enjoyed every moment of those two finals. It was really amazing for me to swim those."
On Thursday, Marchand will continue his quest become the first French athlete to win four individual titles at the same Olympic Games. He will start the heats in the 200m individual medley.
Symmetry
Marchand's feats provided wonderful symmetry for the hosts on the fifth day of competition.
Cassandre Beaugrand launched proceedings with a victory in the women's triathlon.
The 27-year-old completed the course of a 1500m swim, a 40km cycle and a 10km run in one hour, 54 minutes and 55 seconds.
Julie Derron from Switzerland won the silver medal and Beth Potter from Britain took the bronze.
After the men's triathlon was cancelled on Tuesday due to unclean conditions in the river Seine, the women's race was only confirmed during the early hours of Wednesday morning.
"It would have been shameful for our sport if the swimming couldn't have taken place," she said after her victory. "It would have been a disgrace."
Alex Yee from Britain won the men's triathlon title on Wednesday following a late surge during the 10km run to overhaul pacesetter Hayden Wilde.
