It was getting pretty cold in the water.
Chinese swimmer Pan Jianle has accused Australian Kyle Chalmers and American Jack Alexie of unsportsmanlike conduct after setting a new world record to win gold in the men’s 100m freestyle at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“The other day when we finished the 4x100m freestyle relay, I said ‘hello’ to Chalmers and he totally ignored me,” Pan said in a television interview after the race. Transcribed by Reuters“Also, Alexi from the United States. Our coach was standing by the pool while we were training and he turned and the water splashed on him. It felt a bit like he was looking down on us.”
Chalmers, who came in second, took a different view.
The Australian claimed that before the race Zanle told him: “You’re my idol and I love watching you.” According to news.au.com.
“It seems a little odd to me,” Chalmers said of Pan’s comments, quoted by Reuters. “I did a little fist pump before the relay, but after that I was just focused on my teammates and my own race. We laughed together in the warm-down last night, but there was no problem from my side.”
According to news.au.com, the pair shared a bizarre handshake on the podium after the race, but Chalmers did not doubt the legitimacy of Janlet’s new record.
“To break the world record in an Olympic final with a time of 46.40 seconds is incredible,” Chalmers told the outlet.
“I’m going to do everything I can to win races and I think everyone is staying true to the sport and the integrity of the sport, just like me.
“I believe he did everything he could to be there and he deserves the gold medal and I did everything I could to get a shot at that gold medal.”
2024 Paris Olympics
The swimming feud comes amid a Chinese swimming scandal that has rocked the sports world, but Reuters reports that Pan has cleared himself of any wrongdoing.
A shocking report in April revealed that 23 Chinese athletes had competed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics despite testing positive for the banned drug trimetazidine.
The World Anti-Doping Agency agreed with China’s blaming of widespread contamination for the results and said an audit by World Aquatics vindicated its findings, according to Reuters.
The Chinese team has won three gold medals and six swimming medals at the Olympics, and 11 swimmers implicated in the scandal are competing in this year’s games. From NBC News.
According to NBC, Chinese authorities have denounced the doping allegations as “false,” “misleading” and “defamatory.”
Adding a new dimension to the conflict between Australia and China, China has “suggested” that Australian beef companies may be behind the move. Two more Chinese swimmers test positive The Australian international tested positive for a banned substance in 2022, but has now tested positive again, according to news.au.com.
American swimming phenom Katie Ledecky said before the competition began that she hoped no swimmers would try to gain an advantage through unfair means.
“I hope that everyone in Paris will take part in a clean competition this week.” “I’m not a racist,” Ledecky said, according to The New York Times.“But what really matters is, did they have a clean training? I hope they did. I even hope there is testing going on around the world.”
“I think we’ve all heard what the players are thinking. They want transparency. They want more answers to the questions that still remain.”
Stream the 2024 Olympics
If you want to watch every minute of the 2024 Olympics, Peacock is your best bet. For $7.99 a month, you’ll get live streaming of all the action from Paris, plus highlights and other perks. Gold Zonemore.
Want to stream the Paris Olympics for free? Try our free trials of DIRECTV Stream (5 days) and Hulu + Live TV (3 days), both of which include the networks you need to watch the Olympics.
If you buy through links on our site, New York Post may receive compensation or an affiliate commission.
Despite all the controversy, Janlet completed the race in 46.4 seconds, beating his own world record he set in February by 0.40 seconds.
He became the first swimmer to set a new world record at this year’s Olympics. From the official website.
Janret finished 1.08 seconds ahead of Chalmers, while Alexis dropped to seventh place.
“Today, I finally beat everyone,” Pan told Letures. “I broke the world record in such a difficult pool. It’s a great performance and a great start for the Chinese team.”
