22-year-old French won 4 gold medals at Paris 2024 on way to winning Polish Press Agency's European Sportsperson of Year award
French swimmer Leon Marchand, who won four gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, was named the 2024 Polish Press Agency's (PAP) European Sportsperson of the Year on Thursday.
PAP confirmed on its website that in a vote by 21 press agencies including Anadolu, Marchand, 22, had 155 points to secure the honor.
Marchand beat Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar, who won the 2024 Giro d'Italia and Tour de France championships. Pogacar, 26, finished with 148 points.
World famous Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, 25, was third in the running with 142 points.
Duplantis, the world record holder in the pole vault, earned an Olympic gold at the Paris Games.
There were a great number of famous athletes joined in the 2024 polls including Formula 1 star Max Verstappen from the Netherlands, Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic, Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham, Denver Nuggets' Serbian basketball star Nikola Jokic and Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek.
Swiatek, 23, who won the 2024 French Open (Roland Garros) women's singles title, placed 23 in the polls.
During the Paris Olympics, Marchand won the men's 200-meter breaststroke, 200-meter butterfly, 200-meter individual medley and 400-meter individual medley.
Additionally, he had an Olympic bronze in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the Games.
