Kyle Chalmers confronts rival during 48 hours of hell at Paris Olympics

Kyle Chalmers has made a bold move that could turn his so-called feud with China’s Pan Zhanle on its head.

Gold and silver. Picture: Adam Head

Kyle Chalmers says he confronted Olympic champ Pan Zhanle after tensions exploded following the Chinese swimmer’s 100m freestyle victory.

After breaking the world record, Pan claimed on Chinese TV that he and his team had been disrespected after arriving in Paris - and that Chalmers had not been warm to him.

It led to Chalmers, who thought the comments were “weird”, becoming public enemy No. 1 in China with social media attacks being directed at the South Australian on Chinese platform Weibo.

Speaking to reporters after helping Australia into the 4x100m medley relay final on Sunday morning (AEST), Chalmers said he had moved to clear the air with Pan directly.

As reported by News Corp, Chalmers said he asked Pan about what he said on Chinese television and had no beef with him.

“To be honest, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last three or four days,” Chalmers said.

China's Pan Zhanle smashed Kyle Chalmers by 10.08 seconds. Photo by Manan VATSYAYANA / AFP.

“I kind of just said ‘I’m not sure if you’ve seen the media stuff going around but I find it a bit strange because we’ve had so many positive exchanges’ and I can’t really comprehend why this is happening.

“He said ‘I respect you so much as a competitor and as a person’.

“But it’s very hard because we both obviously don’t speak the same language. I know zero Chinese, so it’s quite hard to talk at the best of times but from my point of view, I don’t have any issues.

“His race was amazing the other night and I’m honoured to be in the fastest race ever that’s been swum in the 100m freestyle in history. It’s an incredible feat.”

Chalmers earlier said it was “weird” when told Pan had claimed Chalmers did not shake his hand when they crossed paths in Paris.

“I don’t think there was any animosity ever. I feel like there was none from my point of view,” Chalmers said.

Kyle Chalmers shakes hands with Pan Zhanle. Picture: Adam Head.

“I spoke to him in the marshalling room before the race. After the race, I went straight over, shook his hand in the pool. On the podium, shook his hand and we had a great conversation before we started that cooldown, just in regards to how great the race was.

“He just said about me being his idol and how much of an honour it was for him to swim against me…so all the conversations we’ve ever had have been positive.”

The 26-year-old admitted he has had mental challenges since the drama first unfolded.

“A huge amount of grief, which is obviously very challenging to deal with mentally,” Chalmers said.

“But I know that I’ve done everything I possibly can to be respectful, like I am to every one of my competitors.

“Over the years I’ve had some amazing relationships with guys that I’ve raced against and race with and I think this will be no different.

“I really look forward to progressing our relationship and challenging each other and having some amazing battles in the pool over the years.

“It’s one-all now. Last year, we raced at the world championships and I got the better of him but this year he got the better of me so I’m looking forward to taking it to round three next year.”

Chalmers said he looks forward to racing against Pan in years to coming, putting to bed all the pre-Olympics rumours that he was considering retirement.