China's Olympic Swimmer Pan Zhanle's Record Breaking Gold Medal Win Sparks Allegations Of 'Doping'
The first gold medal for the Chinese swim team was met with controversy.
In the 100m freestyle, Pan Zhanle, one of the star members of the Chinese Olympic team, completed the race in 46.40 seconds setting a world record. This was a full second before anyone else crossed the finish line. He even beat his own previous world record of 46.80 seconds.
However, many have been reluctant to accept his win as a fair victory.
According to 'SCMP,' many suggested that doping may be to credit for the record-breaking victory. The Australian team's coach, Brett Hawke, called the 19-year-old's win "not real life." He took to Instagram on Wednesday captioning the video: "That swim was not real life. Not in that pool, not against that field."
Second place winner, Kyle Chalmers from Australia, was accused after the race by Zhanle of being rude. "On the first day, during the 4x100m relay, I greeted Chalmers, but he completely ignored me, and even Alexey from the American team was dismissive," Chalmers claimed. "During training, when our coach was on the side, they would splash water directly on him with their flips, which felt quite disrespectful."
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However, Chalmers has spoken up, saying that he himself believes that the game was fair.
"I do everything I possibly can to win the race and I trust that everyone's doing the same as I am and staying true to sport and the integrity of sport," he said. "So yeah, I trust it, I trust that he's done everything he possibly can to be there and that he deserves that gold medal."
The gold medalist addressed his proven history of being drug-free.
"Last year I was tested 29 times, not a single one was positive. This year between May and July, I was tested 21 times, also none came out positive," he said, per 'Reuters.' "I was tested twice at the Olympics, we can look forward to the results."
