China’s Pan Zhanle takes shot at swimming rivals after winning Olympic gold

The Chinese star stormed to victory and shaved 0.40 seconds off his world record to claim gold in the men’s 100m freestyle

Gold medalist Pan Zhanle, of China, poses after the men’s 100-meter freestyle final (AP)

China’s Pan Zhanle said he had been given the cold shoulder by some of the other swimmers at the Paris Olympics, in comments made after he won the men’s 100 metres freestyle on Wednesday.

Pan smashed his own 100m freestyle world record on a historic night of swimming, shaving 0.40 seconds off the previous mark he set at the World Championships in Doha in February, to humble a slew of champion rivals in Paris.

He finished a massive 1.08 seconds ahead of Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, who had to settle for silver.

“When I finished the 4x100m freestyle relay the other day, I said ‘hi’ to Chalmers, but he totally ignored me,” Pan said in a TV interview shortly after Wednesday’s race. “Also (Jack) Alexy from the U.S.

“When we were training, our coach was standing by the pool side and he turned in such a way that the water splashed right onto the coach. I felt he looked down on us a little.”

Relations between China’s swimming contingent and some other nations have been frosty in Paris, but Chalmers, the 100 metres freestyle champion at Rio 2016, said he had no issue with Pan.

“I find it a bit weird,” Chalmers said with regard to Pan’s comment.

“I gave him a fist pump before the relays ... and then my focus went to my teammates and my own racing. We had a laugh together at warm down last night - but no issues from my end.”

Alexy, who came seventh, has not responded to Pan’s remarks.

Kyle Chalmers applauds as Pan Zhanle steps on to the Olympic podium (Getty Images)

The Chinese swim team has been under intense scrutiny since revelations in April that 23 of the country’s swimmers tested positive for a banned heart medication in 2021 but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation that the results were due to contamination from a hotel kitchen, and an independent review backed WADA’s handling of the case.

A World Aquatics audit concluded there was no mismanagement or cover-up by the governing body and Pan’s name was not among the Chinese swimmers listed in the reports by the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD.

(AFP via Getty Images)

China’s anti-doping agency (CHINADA) has since accused the New York Times of politicising doping issues and said the publication was trying to “affect the psychology” of Chinese athletes at the Olympics.

The Times said it was confident in the accuracy of its reporting.

“Today I finally beat them all,” Pan continued, after earning China’s first swimming gold in Paris.

“In such a challenging pool, I broke the world record - this is a tremendous performance and a great start for team China.”

In a separate TV interview on Wednesday, Pan described how frequently the Chinese swimmers are drug tested in Paris.

China's Pan Zhanle reacts after winning gold (AFP via Getty Images)

“It could be once every two to three days but normally it happens daily and the person is picked from more than 10 of us so adding up everyone’s tests it would be about 200 in 10 days,” he said, dismissing some Chinese media reports that their swimmers are tested more frequently than those of other countries.

“The tests didn’t really affect us. We normally just have one test a day. Sometimes it’s 6am and normally it happens at 1pm or 6-7pm, all within normal hours, no impact at all.”