The young swimmer Leon Marchand, guided by Michael Phelps' former coach - whose record he beat - won four individual gold medals (two of them in the same afternoon): 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle, as well as a bronze in the relay.

Leon, 22, unleashed a veritable national tide in his favour from a Games host crowd that needed a hero, got one and celebrated.

Kattie Ledecky, who won the 800m freestyle at the London Games when she was 15, made history. Gold in the 1,5000, she also took gold in the 800m freestyle. In the 800 she has won it four Olympic Games in a row. Ledecky's career total of nine Olympic golds makes her the most decorated woman in all Olympic sports, something only Soviet-era gymnast Larisa Latynina had achieved before her.

Ledecky has a total of 14 Olympic medals and 21 world championship golds. Ledecky has dominated distance swimming for more than a decade. But she has no plans to retire as the next Olympic event is at home in Los Angeles and the popular support for local champion Marchand makes her think how impressive it would be to close her career on a high note.

Her great rival, Australia's Ariarne Titmus , left Paris with two golds and two silvers, and, above all, many messages of praise for Ledeck: "She has made me a better athlete," saidthe Australian, who also won gold in the relay.

The Australian will take a "long break" from swimming with the aim of returning to her best for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. There she could get back in a pool with Ledecky and keep their rivalry alive. While Titmus has beaten Ledecky to gold in the last two Olympic 400m events, the 27-year-old American has won four consecutive golds in the 800m.

Another revelation was Canadian Summer McIntosh, 17, who won three gold medals and one silver. She won the women's 400m individual medley, 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly, setting Olympic records in the last two. In the 200m butterfly she clocked the second fastest time in history and the fastest since 2009.

Australia and the United States were in their usual fierce battle, especially in the women's races. Ariarne Ttimus (AUS) won the "race of the century", beating McIntosh and Ledecky in the 400m freestyle.

Also taking gold were Australia's Mollie O'Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown, who retained her two Tokyo 2020 titles in the backstroke.

Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom completed the women's 50m and 100m freestyle double. Team GB's Adam Peaty narrowly missed out on winning his third consecutive Olympic title in the men's 100m breaststroke to take silver behind Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi.

David Popovic became the first Romanian swimmer to win Olympic gold with his triumph in the 200m freestyle.
Three world records were broken: PAN Zhanle (CHN) swam 46.40 seconds in the men's 100m freestyle, Bobby Finke (USA) smashed the men's 1,500m record and the Americans also set the record in the mixed 4x100m.

China's Pan Zhanle shone in the men's 100m freestyle final, coming home in 46.40 seconds, beating the world record of 46.80 he set himself in February at the Doha World Championships.  His results were called into question by previous doping controversies with his team, which never bore his name.

In total, the USA won 28 medals: 8 gold, 13 silver and 7 bronze.  Australia had 11, including 7 gold, 8 silver and 3 bronze.  France won 7 medals, Canada 8 and China 12.