Shohei Ohtani did Shohei Ohtani things again in 2024. His first season with the Dodgers was arguably the best offensive season of his career, and he capped the year by becoming a World Series champion for the first time. The only thing he didn't do was pitch, which we can expect to return to his resume in 2025. So, it should be a given that Ohtani's the Joe Brackets Male Athlete of the Year once again, right? Wrong!
Ohtani is great. He's a once-in-a-lifetime talent who does things on a baseball field that are truly remarkable. As long as he continues to do them, he'll he in the Athlete of the Year conversation every year. So why doesn't he get the nod then? Because there's someone else who took the entire world by storm while bringing pride to his nation on the grandest stage.
During his speech at the Closing Ceremony of the Paris Olympics, Tony Estanguet, the President of the organizing committee said something that I'll never forget. "We wanted to be inspired. We got Leon Marchand." Marchand wasn't just the swimming star of the Paris Games, he was the star! And the star of the Games was from the host nation!
The noise at Paris Le Defense Arena was deafening throughout the swimming competition! And it only got louder as the Olympics progressed, especially when Marchand, their national hero, swam. And their national pride was on full display every time they got to sing "La Marseillaise" during a Leon Marchand medal ceremony. The entire venue was singing the national anthem! I haven't seen anything like it at an Olympics since Virtue & Moir in Vancouver.
Marchand was supposed to be the star of the Paris Games too! Just imagine how much pressure he must've been under. The weight of those expectations. A Frenchman at an Olympics in France. He didn't just meet those expectations. He exceeded them. And his star only grew with each gold medal.
On July 28, the second night of the Olympics, Marchand set an Olympic record in the 400 IM, winning gold by more the six seconds. Three nights later, he did something that hadn't been done in 48 years. Marchand won gold in the 200 butterfly, setting another Olympic record. There was roughly 90 minutes until the final of the 200 breaststroke. Marchand set another Olympic record enroute to his second individual gold of the night (and third of the Olympics).
Then, on August 2, he won a fourth gold in the 200 IM, swimming, you guessed it, an Olympic-record time. It made Marchand the first French Olympian EVER to win four gold medals at the same Games. And he did it in his hometown! Marchand wasn't done yet, though. Olympic swimming always ends with the medley relay. He swam the breaststroke leg for the French team, and they ended up on the podium with the bronze. Five events, five medals (four of them gold). The most decorated Olympian in Paris.
He became just the third male swimmer in history to win four individual gold medals at the same Olympics. The names he joined? Only two of the sport's all-time legends. Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps. Marchand had already been dubbed "the next Phelps" after his exploits at the 2022 & 2023 World Championships, as well as during his NCAA career at Arizona State (where he's coached by Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman). Phelps was among the people who's anointed Marchand as his successor.
Just as Spitz was honored to pass the torch to Phelps, no one is prouder of the Phelps-Marchand comparison than Michael Phelps. Phelps was in Paris doing some work for NBC and attended some of Marchand's races. When he wasn't at the pool, he was in the studio watching with Mike Tirico. After the race, they'd cut to "Phelps Cam" and show his live reaction. He couldn't have been more excited! Michael Phelps is the biggest Leon Marchand fan out there!
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Leon Marchand is his age. He's all of 22. He wasn't even alive yet when Phelps made his Olympic debut in Sydney and was six when Phelps went 8-for-8 in Beijing. Then you add in the fact that he had the weight of a nation on him in what will be the only home Olympics of his lifetime. And he more than lived up to the hype. He inspired a nation. I don't want to give Leon Marchand all the credit for the success of the Paris Games, but the hometown hero starring during the opening week sure didn't hurt!
That's something Phelps mentioned in his praise of Marchand. He (Phelps) never got the chance to swim in a home Olympics. It's obviously got to be the coolest experience of any athlete's career. But the pressure that comes with it also must be immense. Especially when the expectations are as high as they were for Marchand. To come through. At home. On the biggest stage. It's something Marchand and everyone who watched him will never forget.
Every Olympics has that one athlete or one moment that will be forever tied to those Games. Cathy Freeman in Sydney. Michael Phelps in Beijing. Usain Bolt in London. Simone Biles in Rio. For all the stars who competed in Paris, history will remember the 2024 Games as the Olympics of Leon Marchand.
At the Closing Ceremony, Marchand wasn't just acknowledged. He had an active, important role. Since the Olympic cauldron was located outside the Stade de France in the Tuileries Garden, Marchand took the flame, carried it in a lantern and brought it to the stadium so it could be extinguished. The star of the Paris Olympic Games was the steward of the Olympic flame, symbolically transferring it from Paris to Los Angeles, where he'll likely again star in 2028. Except next time, it won't be at home.
So, will all due respect to Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Mahomes, Jannik Sinner and all those who had a memorable 2024, the choice for Male Athlete of the Year is clear. The Olympics were in Paris. A Parisian was the star. Leon Marchand's 2024 will not soon be forgotten. That's why he's the 2024 Joe Brackets Male Athlete of the Year.
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