Léon Marchand is carrying on a long tradition of athletes from host nations becoming Olympic greats

Paris CNN —

In Léon Marchand, France has found one of hopefully many homegrown heroes at these Olympics.

The 22-year-old has been a sensation in the pool, becoming the first athlete in decades to win two individual swimming gold medals on the same night on Wednesday, both in Olympic-record times. He’s won four overall in these Games after Friday’s night victory the in the 200-meter individual medley.

The thunderous chanting of Marchand’s name has become the soundtrack of La Défense Arena – the site of his victories in the men’s 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter breaststroke.

“The crowd was on fire,” the Arizona State University star said after the breaststroke final. “It was insane to live this as a French person. I am so happy.”

But Marchand is not the only French athlete to thrive at these Games. Consider also Antoine Dupont, the rugby star who has made the rare switch from the 15 to the seven-a-side format of the game, thereafter leading his country to gold.

France had little pedigree in sevens rugby prior to Dupont’s arrival, but the scrum-half completely overhauled his team’s fortunes in the sport with a 28-7 victory against two-time champion Fiji in the Olympic final.

Here are some of the other athletes to thrive at recent Olympics on home soil.

Tokyo Olympics – skateboarders shine

Japanese athletes claimed 27 gold medals in Tokyo three years ago, the third-most of any nation behind the USA and China.

Skateboarding in particular, a new addition to the Olympic program at the Games, was a huge source of success for Japan, which won three of the four gold medals on offer.

At age 13, Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest ever Olympic champions as she won the