Article by Glen Quartermain, courtesy of The Nightly.
Fuming Aussie swim coach declares Chinese sprint time ‘not humanly possible’.
Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers has a new silver medal to add to his Olympic collection.
China’s Pan Zhanle has a gold version after an unthinkable 46.4-second 100m freestyle victory in Paris, the only world record set over the first four days of swimming in what has been recognised as a “slow” pool.
Australian swimming coach Brett Hawke is angry.
That’s the story of the men’s 100m freestyle final in Paris as the miasma cloud of drugs in sport once again hangs over the Games.
Pan slashed almost half a second off his own world record, just a day after a 48.4sec swim in the heats to squeeze into the semifinals in 15th place of 16 qualifiers.
“I do everything I possibly can to win the race and trust everyone’s doing the same as I am, staying true to the integrity of sport,” Chalmers said after clocking a 47.48sec swim in the final, a second consecutive silver medal to follow his 2016 gold in the blue riband event.
“I trust that … he (Pan) deserves that gold medal.”
It follows revelations that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive to a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics three years ago but were allowed to compete after world anti-doping authorities accepted the nation’s explanation the swimmers had eaten contaminated food at a team hotel. Pan was not among the 23 swimmers tested.
“It’s a time I never dreamed or saw as possible,” Chalmers said of Pan’s time.
“The last 15m breathing towards him, I thought I could be dead last because he was so far ahead of me. For him to produce a 46.4 and break the world record in the Olympic final is incredible compared to (Tuesday night) going 48.4 in the heat and almost missing it. It’s great that he’s able to reset and refocus and swim so fast tonight.”
According to analysis and data website Insight Lane, Pan’s world record marked the biggest single reduction in the record since 1976 and the greatest winning margin in the 100m freestyle final at the Olympics in 96 years.
Pan touched the wall 1.08sec before Chalmers yet only 0.02sec separated second and fourth.
In a poolside interview with Chinese media, Pan accused Chalmers of snubbing him earlier in the meeting, while suggesting American Jack Alexy, who finished seventh in the final, splashed water on one of his coaches during a training session.
“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.
Strange, because Chalmers said Pan twice told him he was his “idol”.
“Last year, I remember walking out before the final of the world championships, he actually came up to me, and I didn’t know he spoke any English at that stage, he said ‘Kyle, I have so much respect for you. You’re my idol’. Which was really nice.
“And then again tonight after the race, I congratulated him and he said ‘oh, you are my idol’.
“I look at him the same as every competitor. I want to be the very best no matter what, and I want to beat everyone, no matter the question marks or eyebrows raised.”
“I find it a bit weird, I gave him a fist pump before the relays,” Chalmers later said in a statement released by Swimming Australia after the final.” We had a laugh together at warm down last night — but no issues from my end.”
Hawke, meanwhile, who swam for Australia at the Sydney and Athens Olympics, posted a video on Instagram in which he said Pan’s swim was “not humanly possible”.
“Listen, I’m just going to be honest. I am angry at that swim, I’m angry for a number of reasons,” he said.
“My friends are the fastest swimmers in history — from Rowdy Gaines to Alex Popov to Gary Hall Jr, Anthony Irvin, all the way up to King Kyle Chalmers. I know these people intimately, I’ve studied them for 30 years. I’ve studied this sport. I’ve studied speed. I understand it. I’m an expert in it, that’s what I do, OK?
“I’m upset right now because you don’t win 100m freestyle by a body length on that field. You just don’t do it.
“It’s not humanly possible to beat that field by a body length, OK? It’s not. That’s not real, you don’t beat that field — Kyle Chalmers, David Popovici, Jack Alexy — you don’t beat those guys by one full body length in 100 freestyle.
“So don’t sell it to me, don’t shove it down my throat. It’s not real.”
Chalmers liked Hawke’s post.
Pan achieved the feat in a pool that is 2.15m deep, compared to the standard 3m depth used in Tokyo and Rio, which creates turbulence and is a talking point among swimmers at these Games for slow times.
Meanwhile, China reportedly blamed Australian beef imports as a potential cause for two swimmers testing positive to a banned steroid in 2022.
A report from News Corp on Wednesday said Chinese state security services had tested Australian beef imports as part of an investigation into how Tang Muhan and He Junyi returned positive tests for metandienone in 2022. Muhan and Junyi were cleared in 2023.
There was an expectation Chalmers would retire after Paris.
But the 26-year-old confirmed he will push on to Los Angeles.
“This is not my last individual (event), I am not retiring any time soon,” he said. “I love it. I think I will continue on as long as I possibly can.”
The South Australian was last at the turn then finished with a trademark flourish, one-hundredth of a second ahead of Romania’s David Popovici.
“To get silver at my third Olympic Games, to be on the podium three consecutive times, is something I am going to be very, very proud of and no-one can ever take away from me,” Chalmers said.
“The first one (in Rio) I was very young and naive and didn’t know what it meant to be an Olympian or to be an Olympic champion.
