Chinese gold medallist hits back at 'disrespectful' competitors after smashing his own world record

Pan Zhanle is the latest Chinese swimmer to voice their displeasure at their treatment in the Olympic swimming competitions, telling reporters his competitors had disrespected him and his coaching team in a firey interview.

Zhanle told reporters Australian Kyle Chalmers, who finished second to Zhanle in the men's 100m freestyle, "completely ignored" him following the men's 4x100m freestyle final, per The Daily Mail.

Zhanle continued, suggesting the American contingent were also guilty, "This also included the US team's [Jack] Alexy. When we trained, our coach was on the [poolside] deck and someone did a flip turn and splashed water on him."

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The Chinese world record holder claimed, "This behaviour seemed a bit disrespectful to us," before ending the interview in stunning fashion saying, "But today we beat all of them and broke the world record in such a difficult pool. It was an extraordinary performance."

Shots have been fired by both sides in the Paris Olympic pool, with some nations seemingly questioning China's entire swim team following controversial doping issues at the previous Games. For their part, the Chinese have fired shots back, unwilling to let any suggestions of malpractice slide.

Qin Haiyang, a member of China's swimming team, has fired back following discussions of increased scrutiny on the Chinese swim team following 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine before the Tokyo Olympics.

Haiyang wrote, "This proves that the European and American teams feel threatened by the performances of the Chinese team in recent years," on social media per The Independent, following the US Anti-Doping Agency and the FBI investigating Wada over the lack of punishment for the Chinese swimmers involved in the doping scandal.

The Chinese swimmer also claimed, "Some tricks aim to disrupt our preparation rhythm and destroy our psychological defence!" Ahead of the Games. So far, the Chinese swim team has two bronze medals in the games, lagging well behind Australia and USA, who both have multiple golds in the pool already.

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Haiyang's comments come following an ongoing controversy around the Chinese swimming team, but what exactly happened? Let's take a look.

BBC Sport has reported that Chinese swimmers are set to be tested twice as much as their counterparts at the 2024 Paris Olympics following a doping scandal that rocked the world of swimming.

The International Testing Agency has reportedly committed to testing Chinese competitors eight times between the start of 2024 and the beginning of the Paris Games. This number is double that of other competitors.

The ITA has also said “best efforts” will be made to ensure tests are carried out by independent authorities, not the China Anti-Doping Agency, and to avoid using China as a testing center, per BBC Sport.

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Authorities have come under pressure in recent months following the reveal that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance before the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, but were cleared to compete anyway, per The Independent.

Despite the positive tests for the heart medication trimetazidine, all 23 competitors were allowed to race in Tokyo, claiming three golds between them.

This led to World Aquatics, competitive swimming’s governing body, claiming their trust in the anti-doping system had been “weakened,” per BBC Sport.

World Aquatics released a statement saying, “What is extremely clear and what cannot be taken for granted is that the trust of the aquatics community is vital to the continued success of World Aquatics as an international federation”.

23-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps told a US House of Representatives subcommittee, “As athletes, our faith can no longer be blindly placed in the World Anti-Doping Agency, an organization that continues to prove that it is either incapable or unwilling to enforce its policies consistently around the world,” following the Chinese doping scandal.

An investigation by the Chinese team into the doping scandal concluded the positive tests were a result of contaminated food provided by a hotel, per The Independent. However, no evidence was provided to substantiate any claim.

The International Olympic Committee has claimed it has, “full confidence” in WADA, despite the ongoing concerns around Chinese competitors. Hopefully, the extra scrutiny will lead to a clean Games from all parties, with no drug controversies to take away from what should be an exciting series of swimming events.

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