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
Can’t believe people are believing that Chalmers ignored him on purpose (after chatting on Tuesday with him happily? ) or that Alexy deliberately splashed the coaches. Hopefully it’s just the translation issue. Pan should just celebrate his amazing swim.
Interesting how Phelps described that time
Interesting that the only WR broken to date at this, well covered, known to be slow pool was him.
Wasn’t it already established that the 2021 case was due to contamination, and the amount present was actually too little to have any effect on their performances? To use the words ‘go unpunished’ makes it sound that they are guilty. The power of media..
There is a procedure that is supposed to be followed even for food contamination. Athletes are provisionally suspended while the case is investigated, and the positive tests are made public. That procedure wasn’t followed, which is the reason USADA got upset.
Established by who?
Chalmers a gold and 2 silvers in a span of 8 years 👏👏👏. If Pan gets popped 💉💊 that would be a golden bun sandwich.
With Alexy and Guiliano not knowing how to drop time and peak at an Olympics and with these slow times you would have to think Dressel could have done damage here, but it’s probably better for his medal chances this meet that he doesn’t swim this event.
I wish NBC had the Dan Hicks and Rowdy broadcast replay. I missed it cause I was watching it outside on my phone at the pool after swimming.
Do you really think the Dan and Rowdy call of an event where 2 Americans were terrible–and a Chinese man obliterated a world record–is a good sports call?
When I first heard reports that Jack splashed his coach I did not think he was referring to a flip turn…. Oh no, the 6’8” giant got water on my coach during a flip turn…. What lol
Comical
Looking to be offended is what it sounds like to me
However on the flip side….
It worked for him so props
In fairness…
The GOAT basketball player was well known to invent slights by opponents in order to stoke the inner fire so I’m fine with it
Chalmers, who is famously friendly with his competitors, “ignores” Pan on Saturday. Pan tells Chalmers he loves watching him on Tuesday and they presumably had some small talk only for Pan to then slag his “idol” to the Chinese press on Wednesday?
Seems like Pan is being a little bit dramatic, especially the dig about coaches getting wet while standing near a pool.
I mean he’s 19, most 19 year olds are dramatic lol. Wouldn’t hold it against him, when youre 19 everything feels like life and death.
It was undiplomatic but he’s got a little of that MJ “..and I took that personally” in him. And that stuff plays extremely well to the Chinese audience. From other, older interviews it seems to me he very much knows what to say to official Chinese media.
Highly disappointed in hearing Chalmers ignore Pan…
Don’t trust what the Chinese media said. I saw no issue during the award ceremony. The governmental-controlled media uses every opportunity to promote nationalism and finger-point others who accused them.
You believe that? Come on mate. They chatted just fine on the Tuesday.