China rallies behind Pan Zhanle after Australian coach’s disbelief at world record swim

Chinese state and social media have rallied behind Olympic gold medal winner Pan Zhanle after Australian coach Brett Hawke said the world-record win in Paris was not “humanly possible”.

Pan won China’s first gold medal of the Paris Games in the 100 metre freestyle, beating the world record he already held, by shaving 0.4 seconds off his time. The 19-year-old finished in 46.60 seconds, ahead of Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers and Romania’s David Popovici.

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Former Olympic swimmer and coach Hawke, who is not part of Australia’s Paris team, posted on his Instagram that “it’s not humanly possible to beat that field” and that the swim was “not real life. Not in that pool, against that field.”

He said he “knew these [swimmers] intimately, had studied them for 30 years, studied this sport, studied speed, I understand it”.

“I’m upset right now because you don’t win 100 freestyle by a body length on that field.”

Hawke’s video post was inundated with comments, some defending his suspicions but many critical, with one telling him to “cry more”. It then made its way to Chinese social media, where users shared it with accusations Hawke was being a sore loser. A related hashtag on Weibo was viewed more than 100 million times, with tens of thousands of comments.

“They have trained and have the corresponding talent,” said one commenter. “Australia can’t produce it, so they blame China.”

“Pan swam well, and… the others did not swim to their best level, so the two added up to one body length,” said another.

The Chinese swimming team has been under intense scrutiny and subject to public scepticism after reports in April revealed that 23 swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance, trimetazidine, in 2021 but had still been allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

A Chinese investigation attributed the results to contamination from a hotel kitchen. The World Anti-Doping Agency accepted the findings, and an independent review backed Wada’s handling of the case.

Pan’s name was not on the list of Chinese swimmers in those reports, by the New York Times and Germany’s ARD.

China’s state-backed tabloid, the Global Times, said Pan’s win was “a powerful rebuttal” to the doubts overshadowing the team. China Daily said his win came after he “completed rigorous doping test programs prior to and during the games with zero positive results”.

Pan told media after the race that his team were being drug-tested about once a day, but said it wasn’t impacting his training.

After the race, Australian swimmer Chalmers said he trusted that everyone was “staying true to the integrity of the race”.

“I trust that he’s done everything he possibly can to be there and he deserves that gold medal.”

Pan was also defended by teammate, Zhang Yufei, who told a press conference Pan’s achievements were “legitimate and attained under stringent anti-doping protocols”.

“Pan had consistently swum under 47 seconds prior to achieving his new world record,” she said, asking why Chinese athletes were questioned over their fast times and record wins, but not Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky.

Hawke was later interviewed by Australian media, where he doubled down on his remarks.

Additional reporting by wires