Doping cheat wins Gold, Koehler cries bitter tears
Olympic Champion Lukas Maertens reaches final again, Angelina Koeler misses a medal. Fourth place has a bitter taste. Swimmer León Marchand creates an emotional highlight in La Défense Arena.
Lukas Maertens crawled to his tearful gold medal victory and into the next Olympic final, but for Angelina Koeler, the medal dream shattered in Paris - due to a Chinese doping offender. In front of 17,000 spectators at the Rugby Stadium La Defense, the World Champion finished fourth over 100 meters Butterfly. 21 hundredths of a second were missing for the bronze, which Zhang Yufei took away. The 26-year-old is one of the eleven swimmers and swimmers who were allowed to start despite positive tests.
The 23-year-old Berliner Koeler, who catapulted herself into the spotlight with her WM triumph in Qatar in February, wept bitter tears after her first Olympic final. "Fourth place is always the first loser, that's a bit crappy", said Koeler to the ZDF microphone. For Zhang, a banned heart medication was discovered before the Olympics in Tokyo, but there was no ban, as it was allegedly contaminated food in a hotel that was the cause. "Such stories have a nasty taste", said Koeler later: "I hope that there will still be clarification, that something will come out. I stand for clean sport and for justice."
An hour later, Melvin Imoudu finished sixth in the final over 100 meters Breaststroke, just six hundredths of a second away from a medal. The German record holder finished fourth - a hair's breadth behind the silver medalists Adam Peaty (Great Britain) and Nic Fink (USA). Lucas Matzerath followed closely behind in fifth place.
"Had to make sure I somehow got to bed"
Maertens, however, had another chance for a medal after finishing fourth in the semifinals of the 200 meters Freestyle on Monday evening. Despite his historic victory over double the distance on Saturday evening, he found little time to rest and enjoy. "Two to three hours were gone, a little nap", the first German swimming Olympian in the pool since 1988 laughed, after he had gone back into the pool only 14 hours later.
He didn't even have time for celebrating - "I'll pick that up for later", said Maertens. For the German shooting star, who ended the long drought of men's Olympic gold since "Albatross" Michael Groß's gold 36 years ago, there is still a lot to come in Paris. He is also ranked second on the World Year-End List over 200 meters and is a medal contender. "It's not over yet. I have the chance for one or another medal. I need to make sure I get some sleep."
Local matador Léon Marchand caused quite a spectacle meanwhile, as he was crowned Olympic champion and made the arena emotional. World record holder Marchand secured his victory in the 400m Individual Medley with a time of 4:02.95 minutes, leaving a significant lead over Japanese swimmer Tomoyuki Matsushita and Carson Foster from the USA. For the 22-year-old, it was his first Olympic win of his career. In 2023, he had broken the previously 15-year-old world record of US swimming legend Michael Phelps at the World Championships in Fukuoka.
Long before Marchand's race, loud "León, León" chants echoed through the arena. The atmosphere reminded one of a soccer stadium. Thousands of fans sang the French national anthem. When Marchand went to the starting block, his fans greeted him with deafening "Allez León" cheers. The exceptional swimmer allowed himself to be celebrated later with raised arms. In Marchand's grand triumph, Cédric Bussing finished in eighth place. The 20-year-old, who represents SG Essen, had set a German record of 4:11.52 minutes in the morning heats. In the final, Bussing finished with a time of 4:17.16 minutes.
Despite her heartbreaking fourth-place finish at the Rugby Stadium La Defense, 26-year-old swimmer Köhler vowed to stand for clean sport and seek justice, criticizing the doping offender who allegedly stole her bronze medal by six hundredths of a second. At the swim party, Merchant, a doping offender, celebrating his victory, shed no tears of remorse. Meanwhile, Köhler's close friend Köhler found solace in the pool, participating in a swim party alongside Marchant, a gold medalist who swam triumphantly in Köhler's shadow.
