Paris: Chinese swimmer and new Olympic champion Pan Zhanle has accused Australian Kyle Chalmers of a poolside snub and an American rival of splashing water on one of his coaches after breaking the men’s 100m freestyle world record in Paris.
Chalmers solidified his standing as Australia’s greatest male sprinter after becoming just the second male athlete in more than a century to win three 100m freestyle Olympic medals following a blistering final lap that was upstaged by a world record from Pan.
Chalmers turned in last place at the 50-metre mark on Wednesday evening at the París La Défense Arena, before storming home to pick up a silver medal in what could be his final individual Olympic race.
The Australian was excellent but no match for Pan, whose time of 46.4 seconds was a remarkable 0.4 second improvement on the world record he set at the world championships in February.
Minutes after his victory, Pan took part in an interview on Chinese television, which this masthead has obtained, and said he was motivated to beat Chalmers after what happened following the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on the opening night of competition last week.
“On the first day, at the 4×100 relay, after we finished swimming I greeted Chalmers. He didn’t pay me any attention at all,” Pan told China Central Television.
It took five days, but Pan Zhanle has the first swimming world record of Paris 2024.Credit: AP
“Including [Jack] Alexy from the American team – when we were training and our coaches were on the sides, the movements he made seemed like he was deliberately splashing water on the coaches. It just felt like he looked down on us. Can I say this?”
Alexy finished the final in seventh place.
Swimming Australia was contacted for comment.
Pan had his arm around Chalmers on the medal dais. The pair also sat next to each other at a media conference after the race and there was no sign of animosity between the pair.
According to Chalmers, Pan said he was his idol.
“Last year, I remember walking out before the final of the world championships and just he was maybe a lane next to me,” Chalmers told reporters after his race on Wednesday. “He actually came up to me, and I didn’t know he spoke any English at that stage, and he said, ‘Kyle, I have so much respect for you. You’re my idol’.
“Then again tonight, after the race, I congratulated him and he said, ‘You are my idol’. I look at him the same as any competitor.”
Pan, 19, was not one of the 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive to a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics and were allowed to compete.
Pan’s winning margin of 1.08 seconds was the biggest in a men’s 100m freestyle race since USA’s Johnny Weissmuller, famous for playing Tarzan in a dozen movies, beat Hungary’s István Bárány in 1928.
Not since South Africa’s Jonty Skinner in 1976 has a swimmer in the 100m freestyle event taken a bigger margin off the world record.
Pan only recorded a time of 48.4 in the heats a day earlier – two seconds slower – and sneaked into the semi-finals as the 15th-ranked swimmer.
“It’s crazy,” Chalmers said. “The last 15 metres, I thought I could be dead last because he’s so far ahead of me.
“I trust that he’s done everything he possibly can to be there, and he deserves that gold medal. I did everything I possibly could to challenge for that gold medal and be on the top of the podium. I have silver and I’m just as happy with that.
“Not that long ago, the world record was 46.9.
Kyle Chalmers, gold medallist Pan Zhanle of China and bronze medallist David Popovici of Romania following the men’s 100 metres freestyle final.Credit: AP
“It’s exciting as a swimming fan and it’s going to make me train harder than I’ve ever trained before.”
Chalmers was asked whether Pan’s rapid time might raise suspicions given the cloud hanging over some Chinese swimmers at these Games.
“I do everything I possibly can to win the race. I trust that everyone’s doing the same as I am and staying true to sport and the integrity of sport,” Chalmers said.
After a gold medal in 2016 as an 18-year-old and a fighting silver medal behind American Caeleb Dressel in 2021, Chalmers said he was proud to pick up a third medal in his favourite event, which puts him among legends of the sport.
Russian great Aleksandr Popov (1992, 1996 and 2000) and USA’s Duke Kahanamoku (1912, 1920 and 1924) are the only swimmers in history to win three Olympic medals in the men’s 100m freestyle.
Chalmers was 0.4 seconds outside his personal best in a time of 47.48, ahead of Romania’s David Popovici, who took the bronze medal in 47.49.
“I think I did the very best I possibly could do,” Chalmers said.
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