Chinese Swimming Record: The amazing 100m freestyle world record set by Pan Zhanle has been criticized by a top Australian swimming coach who said the Chinese swimmer’s performance was “not humanly possible.”
Some people around the world, including Brett Hawke, were shocked when the 19-year-old won gold in 46.40 seconds, beating his closest competitor Kyle Chalmers by more than a second.
Pan beat a strong field to cut almost half a second off his own world record. He also won by the largest margin in the men’s 100m freestyle since Johnny Weissmuller of the United States in 1928, but his success has been overshadowed by ongoing doubts about the Chinese team.
Even though The New York Times and German station ARD have named him in an investigation into doping at the Paris Games, the 19-year-old said he wasn’t worried about it.
It said that 23 athletes at Tokyo 2020 failed drugs tests for a heart medication that isn’t allowed. Eleven of these athletes are participating in the Olympics. In 2022, two athletes were cleared after testing positive for a strong anabolic steroid, which was thought to have been caused by contaminated meat.
WORLD RECORD! 🥇
In the final of the men’s 100-meter freestyle, Pan Zhanle swims so beautifully that he breaks his own record. Olympic Games in Paris in 2024:
https://twitter.com/4aw2myrD6L
That was BBC Sport on July 31, 2024 (@BBCSport).
Hawke said in an animated video on his Instagram account that the performance “is not real” and that he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years of teaching the sport.
Hawke said, “Listen, I’m just going to be honest: I am angry about that swim.” He didn’t say anything about the latest claims that Chinese swimmers, but not Pan himself, were involved in covering up doping.
“All right, I’m mad about a few things. I know some of the fastest swimmers in history. Their names are Rowdy Gaines, Alex Popov, Gary Hall Jr., Anthony Ervin, and King Kyle Chalmers. I’ve watched these people for 30 years and know them very well.I’ve learned about this sport. I’ve learned about speed. I get it. That’s what I do for a living, so I’m good at it. I’m mad right now because on that field, you don’t win the 100m freestyle by a body length. “Don’t do it.”
Hawke, who ran for Australia in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, said, “That field is too big to beat by a body length.” It doesn’t matter what you say. There is no bias here; this is just what I see and what I know. It’s not against any one person or country.
“That’s not a fact; you cannot compete in that area.” In the 100m freestyle, Kyle Chalmers, David Popovici, or Jack Alexy are too hard to beat by a full body length. Okay, so don’t try to sell it to me or force it down my throat. No way is that possible. “It’s not real.”
Pan, who is 19 years old, said that Kyle Chalmers, who came in second, didn’t pay attention to him.
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A comment made by Neil Mitchell, an Australian broadcaster, that China’s Olympic swimming efforts are “based around cheating” made things worse between the two countries. Mitchell said on the Australian TV show Sunrise, “They’re protecting them.” “The Chinese system is set up so that people can cheat…
It was thought that 23 athletes in Tokyo and 11 athletes here in Paris were using drugs. Mitchell told Sunrise’s Nat Barr on Thursday that this made him feel like “the Chinese are treated differently” when it comes to drugs in sports. On a very tense night at Paris’s La Défense Arena, Pan said that Chalmers and Alexy were “looking down” on him and splashing his coach with water. At the same time, the country’s anti-doping office was angry and said that The New York Times was trying to ruin their Olympic campaign.
“The initially day, following we finished swimming in the 4×100 relay, I went to say hello to Chalmers.” On China Central Television, Pan said, “He wasn’t paying me much attention at all.”
As we trained with our coaches watching, Alexy from the American team made moves that made it look like he was splashing water on them on purpose. It made us feel like he was looking down on us. “May I say this?”
Chalmers was shocked when Pan said bad things about the Australian. He then told Chalmers that Pan had told him directly that he thought the Australian was cool.
“The year before, I recall heading out prior to the final of the world championships only to discover he was maybe a lane behind me,” he shared.
“He came up to me and told me, ‘Kyle, I have so much respect for you.’ I had no idea he spoke English at that point. “You’re my hero.”
“Then right now following the race, I assured him he did wonderful, and he tells me, ‘You are my idol.'” I consider him the same as any other foe.
China accused Pan of doping, but Pan didn’t care. The Chinese Anti-Doping Agency (Chinada), on the other hand, decided to respond to new claims that two Paris 2024 athletes failed drugs tests in 2022 but were found not guilty.
Chinada said that The New York Times was trying to “affect the psychology” of Chinese athletes by making doping problems political. It also said that it strictly follows anti-doping rules and called the US newspaper “unfair and immoral.”
Chinada said in a statement this week that the main goal is to mess up the Paris Olympics swimming competition, hurt the mental health of Chinese athletes, and make them less competitive. “This is extremely unfair and immoral.”
Another person who worked for The New York Times replied, “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting.”
Pan said that anti-doping officers had checked him out many times, including the day of his world record run, and that he had never failed one. “I did everything I could to get the best deal. “I was shocked when I finally broke the world record. It was a magical moment,” Pan told reporters over the phone. “I had 29 tests last year, and none of them came back positive.” I had 21 tests from May to July, and none of them came back positive. We were already given a second test today.There doesn’t seem to have been any effect on me because all the tests were done the right way… It’s not a big deal, then.”
It shocked Chalmers that Pan did so well, and he was later asked if the unbelievable time, which beat his previous world record by a huge 0.4 seconds, made him suspicious.
“I do everything I can to get first place in the race.” Chalmers said, “I trust that everyone is staying true to sport and the integrity of sport, just like I am.”
“It’s crazy,” he said. I thought I might be last for the last 15 meters because he was so far ahead of me.
