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
Chalmers, the Australian boy, well said!
“the Chinese boy”? Rather a demeaning way to refer to a grown man, especially the reigning world record holder.
When you’re from China or Russia you are guilty until proven innocent.
With the prevalence of doping in both those countries over the last decade, it’s hardly remarkable that many might harbor some doubts with a swim like this. Don’t place too much blame on the doubters. Right or wrong, China has given the world free license to question their performances.
Swimming sensation Pan Zhanle is China’s equivalent of Jesse Owens, for defying Western stereotype about Chinese swimmers.
“I was the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) director. We lied, we cheated, we stole,” then U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said when addressing Texas A&M University in April 2019. “We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”
That quote is not a complete non-sequitur. How is accepting a Chinese swimmer success any different than that of Japanese swimmer for us deplorable Westerners? I’ll give you the answer….none, nada, zip. Japan have been winning Olympic swimming medals since 1928, nearly a full century ago now. Japan also won the swimming medal count in the 1932 Olympics held in Los Angeles. Jesse was still four years away from competing. The vexing problem here is that scores of Chinese swimmers have been caught for doping over the last 10-15 yrs. Everyone hopes he’s clean but China has created this situation for many to question it unfortunately.
nix the “not” in the first sentence….
I haven’t scrolled through all 300 (or whatever) comments. In those first 50 or so i did read… I see no one is asking if there was something different about the mechanics of Pan’s swim? About his training approach? What are the sum-total effects of a potential slew of things he might be doing differently from the Western swimmers? I too tend to lean towards the highly suspicious. But there are outliers (even in “slow” pools) that diverge from the median at some point in any dataset – maybe he truly is one? Seems like a review of video or prior swims would be worthwhile to look for material adjustments?
Splashed them while doing a flipturn? Thats called being on a pool deck. I was splashed this morning by a flipturn while dilly tallying on deck to get in. Hardly was a disrespect. Its called swimming. On deck, gonna get wet.
And unfortunately for Pan, his association with China in light of the widespread Chinese does encourage skeptism. But he was not one of the 23–so happy to be amazed by his swim. And I hope it is never anything else other than a great swim!
There is a question mark of doping that hangs over Chinese athletes wherever they compete. It is more of a commentary on the political system under which they live than on the athletes themselves.
Saying it’s not clean is just people that can’t comprehend it so they instantly discredit it, pan just showed everyone that this pool is in fact not slow and that the record was soft🔥