2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
- Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
- La Défense Arena — Paris, France
- LCM (50 meters)
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The entire La Défense Arena was blown away by two groundbreaking performances at the hands of 19-year-old Pan Zhanle of China.
First, in the individual men’s 100m freestyle final, Pan scorched a time of 46.40 to once again become the fastest man in history.
He beat a world-class field that contained the likes of Kyle Chalmers of Australia and David Popovici of Romania by a body length en route to establishing a new World Record.
His gold medal-worthy result hacked .40 off the 46.80 mark he logged as lead-off on his nation’s relay at this year’s World Championships.
That outing would have been enough to call Paris a successful Olympics for the teen but Pan had other plans.
As the anchor on China’s men’s 4x100m medley relay on the final night of action, Pan lit the pool on fire with an anchor of 45.92.
That surpassed the previous all-time split of 46.06 that Jason Lezak of the U.S. swam at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to propel the US to gold in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay.
Not only did the Chinese men’s medley relay win gold, but in doing so they toppled the U.S. who had topped the podium in the event at every Olympic since 1984.
Speaking to the media after that mind-bending relay, Pan said, “Today, my greatest achievement was still thanks to my teammates. I just did what I was supposed to do.
“I went 46.50 in the individual event. It’s not like I went from 47 seconds in the individual to 46.0 or 46.1 in the relay, so I wouldn’t say it’s shocking, it’s just a normal performance.
“Moving forward, I’m going to settle down and then go for more breakthroughs.”
Reflecting on his individual 100m free gold, Pan stated, “This just means I’ve reached a good level. To be honest, I almost didn’t want to believe it when I went 46.40. I thought there was a problem with the scoreboard.
“Not to mention, people were criticizing me so much. But today, I finally proved myself. This is really a time I am capable of getting.”
You can read more about the criticisms as well as comments from competitors coming to Pan’s defense here.
ATE IN THE INTERVIEW YET AGAIN, PAN ZHANLE! pic.twitter.com/HL4kuKuyXH
— em (@jidantamago) August 5, 2024
46 is the new 47 and Pan is leading the way
Something cool if you subscribe to the women’s 100 free = men’s 100 free + 5 seconds conversion is that the fastest split of all time between both men’s and women’s 100 free is basically the same now (50.93 women’s ≈ 45.92 men’s)
Pan getting the full Ye Shiwen 2012 treatment
Pan finally proved it’s not what you know, it’s what your pharmacist knows.
Incredible, magnificent talent.
Unlike some of you, I’ve been keeping up on him since he was 16. That is, I don’t purposefully ignore Asian swimmers, then cry about your own ignorance when they succeed.
Glad he proved he’s the one, it’s his time now regardless of some Caucasian folks weird racial insecurities.
The thing about the Chinese is that they don’t seem to have a very long career at the top of their game. They tend to fade away as quickly as they rise to the top. Maybe it is burnout from their system. You see Chalmers lasting 8 years. Do we think Pan will medal in 2032? I would bet he crashes and burns long before then. Not saying its impossible but unlikely.
Ever hear of Wang Shun? Some Chinese swimmers do last awhile
my glorious king sun yang made his first oly final at age 16 until forced media retirement 13 years later.
Then how about Wang Shun, Zhang Yufei, Xu Jiayu and Ye Shiwen?
Kinda amazing how close he came to missing semis. Imagine if he had missed semis and then dropped the 45.9 relay split with no context.
200 free lcm wr on alert, you heard it here first bra
It is telling that in one of his many interviews conducted on Monday when asked about the difference in physique between himself and the tall muscular type exhibited by most freestyle sprinters and how it affected his stroke technique he mentioned that his is about minimizing resistance when moving through the water like an arrow so too much muscle is of no help for him. From the underwater footage it seems that he has mastered the art of positioning his body as a canoe with very little up-down and lateral movements so his powerful kicks drive only forward momentum.
I’ve never seen anyone swim the 100 free like him. He has such a unique and powerful stroke. I hope people study his technique and not write him off as just another “Chinese drug cheat”.
I don’t see him as just another “Chinese drug cheat”. I see him as a drug cheat among Chinese drug cheats. The Michael Phelps of Chinese drug cheats.
The Romanian skinny kid did this first so its not really anything new but maybe more swimmers of this body type could unlock times like this.