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Most of the big stars from the last Olympics will be back at the pool in Paris. Caeleb Dressel. Katie Ledecky. Ariarne Titmus. Emma McKeon. But the local favorite might just shine brightest of them all. France's Lon Marchand has drawn comparisons to the great Michael Phelps, a link that was only strengthened by Phelps' longtime coach, Bob Bowman, overseeing the 22-year-old's rise to prominence. At last summer's world championships in Fukuoka, Marchand broke Phelps' 15-year-old world record in the 400-meter individual medley, to go along with victories in the 200 IM and 200 butterfly two more of Phelps' signature events. Leon has several things that make him a great, Bowman said. He has speed and he has endurance. So he kind of has the whole package that you want, and so far he's done well under pressure, which is the other piece of that equation. He has it all really. Marchand will also have the home-pool advantage in Paris, where the swimming will be contested in a temporary ..
Michael Phelps will be part of NBC's Olympics coverage as a correspondent and swimming commentator, the network announced. Phelps who has won the most medals (28) and gold medals (23) in Olympic history will call selected swimming events with Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines and contribute features as a correspondent during primetime coverage. Phelps, who swam in five Games from 2000-16, did some work for NBC during its coverage of last month's U.S. swimming trials. I know he's going to offer some incredible insight on especially those races that he has won so many gold medals in, Gaines said during a teleconference. A three-part retrospective on Phelps' career is streaming on NBC's Peacock platform.