Pan Zhanle shared the reason why victory tasted a little sweeter for him after breaking his own world record in the men’s 100 freestyle with a winning time of 46.40 on Wednesday — more than a second ahead of the field.
The 19-year-old Chinese star told CCTV that he felt snubbed by Australia’s Kyle Chalmers and American sprinter Jack Alexy during the 4×100 free relay on Saturday, when he broke the Olympic record in the final with his 46.92 leadoff. Pan said he was ignored while trying to say hello to Chalmers, and also that Alexy splashed water on their coach during warmups.
“After the 4×100 free relay, I went to say hi to Kyle [Chalmers] and he ignored me,” Pan said, translated from Chinese. “And while we were training, Jack Alexy splashed our coaches on the side of the pool with water while he was doing a flip turn. I felt that they looked down upon us, can I say this? And today I finally beat them all.”
Chalmers ultimately took the silver medal in 47.48 while Alexy placed 7th in 47.96. Pan’s post-race comments are interesting because he didn’t seem to harbor any hard feelings toward Chalmers during Tuesday’s semifinals.
“Pan, the Chinese boy, straight before we walked out said: ‘You’re my idol and I love, love, love watching you,'” Chalmers said on Tuesday night.
Pan was not one of the 23 Chinese swimmers who went unpunished despite testing positive for a banned substance in January of 2021, seven months before the Tokyo Olympics. With heightened media coverage surrounding a potential Chinese doping controversy, Chinese swimmers were tested almost 200 times during their first 10 days in Paris. Breaststroke world record holder Qin Haiyang said it disrupted his sleep schedule, but Pan said he was unfazed by increased testing in Paris.
“This was standard,” Pan said. “The tests were done under all the regulations. I don’t htink it influenced my performance.”
Both Chalmers and bronze medalist David Popovici were both asked whether they thought the race was fair in light of recent Chinese doping concerns.
“I do everything I possibly can to win the race,” Chalmers said. “And I trust that everyone’s doing the same as I am and staying true to sport and the integrity of sport. So yeah, I trust that he’s doing everything he possibly can to be there, and he deserves that gold medal, and I did everything I possibly could to challenge for that gold medal and be on the top podium.”
“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” Popovici said.
MEN’S 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL
World Record: 46.80 – Pan Zhanle, CHN (2024)- World Junior Record: 46.86 – David Popovici, ROU (2022)
Olympic Record: 46.92 – Pan Zhanle, CHN (2024)- 2021 Winning Time: 47.02 – Caeleb Dressel, USA
- 2021 Time to Win Bronze: 47.44
- Pan Zhanle (China) – 46.40 (WORLD RECORD)
- Kyle Chalmers (Australia) – 47.48
- David Popovici (Romania) – 47.49
- Nandor Nemeth (Hungary) – 47.50
- Maxime Grousset (France) – 47.71
- Josha Salchow (Germany) – 47.80
- Jack Alexy (United States) – 47.96
- Chris Guiliano (United States) – 47.98
Classic case of swimswam making a story out of nothing, can you guys do proper journalism for once?
Butthurt much bro? Take the WR, gold, and move on
Pan is pretty legit who I think hasn’t been detected using suspected illegal drugs during these games, which has plagued the Chinese Team. Even if there may be more reports of suspected illegal drug usage within his team in the coming days, I hope that Pan will not get affected by the negative perception and will continue to wow us.
Hasn’t been detected.. yet.
What an incredible 100m swim. Who wasn’t speechless? But man, it would be way easier to be excited if it weren’t a Chinese member. Fair or unfair that’s where we are.
I have splashed every coach, official, old lady at the Y, etc with my flipturns… as a 5’8” woman. I seriously doubt Alexy did that intentionally.
There is splashing by the pool, so seems reasonable the coaches would get splashed. Alexy is big and probably makes a big splash during a race pace turn. None of us saw what happened there with Alexy, but seems like a slightly odd claim.
Interesting for that the fraudulent WR to be saying this when everyone on deck is questioning if China is truly competing fairly with the incompetence of WADA. Just look at Qin and that’s all the evidence anyone needs. Swam lights out last year then when testing comes around he falls off the map. Interesting…
What?
I have my own skepticism, but what you’re writing is gibberish and non-sensical
One of the greatest in Paris. I can only congratulate Pan on his amazing achievement. Don’t understand why some commenters here focus on negativity.
scuse me did you read the headline
I keep watching and rewatching that race as it’s so amazing.
A full second in the lead 😱
I also congratulate him but do hope that people won’t make so much fuss over past slights and not let some petty bullying antics overshadow the good.
Sounds like a nothing burger. Hopefully, for the Chinese, there aren’t any PED’s in it.