Pan Zhanle, Chinese swimmer, won the gold medal in the 100m freestyle and set a new world record by finishing in 46.40 seconds at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Impressive numbers, but which have been questioned by former Olympic athlete Brett Hawke following a doping scandal involving 23 swimmers from the Asian country. The Australian even considered the time achieved by Jeanlet to be… “humanly impossible.”
“I’ve studied this sport for thirty years and this speed is unreal. You can’t beat a group like that with that kind of advantage. They are the best in history. It’s humanly impossible,” he said on social media.
In April this year, it was discovered that 23 athletes from China had tested positive for a banned substance and that, despite the World Anti-Doping Agency being aware of it, more than half of them were able to attend the Olympic Games.
China defended itself on the basis of food contamination, which the World Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged despite a lack of evidence. Despite this, Pan Zhanlier was not on the list of athletes under investigation.
The Chinese swimmer, who has dropped his record by four seconds since his last competition in February, said he was closely monitored and had never tested positive for any banned substance.
Despite the suspicions, Kyle Chambers, the Olympic 100m freestyle runner-up coached by Brett Houck, dismissed any suggestion that Pan Zhanlie had taken banned substances and insisted the Chinese swimmer deserved the gold medal. “I have confidence in him. I think he did everything he could to be here, and that’s why he deserves the gold medal,” Chambers said.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, China has already won six swimming medals, four of which are gold.