China's Pan cites chilly reception in Paris pool

PARIS — China’s Pan Zhanle, who won the men’s 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday, says he has been given the cold shoulder by some of the other swimmers at the Paris Olympics.

Pan smashed his own 100 freestyle world record, shaving 0.40 seconds off the mark he set at the world championships in Doha, Qatar, in February, to best a slew of champion rivals in Paris. He finished 1.08 seconds ahead of Australian silver medalist Kyle Chalmers.

“When I finished the 4×100 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 poolside 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-meter freestyle champion at Rio de Janeiro in 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 warmdown last night, but no issues from my end.”

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

The Chinese swim team has been under intense scrutiny since it was reported 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.

China’s anti-doping agency has since accused The New York Times of politicizing doping issues and said the newspaper 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 said 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.”