Kyle Chalmers breaks silence on China Pan Zhanle snub storm

Kyle Chalmers has responded with eyebrow-raising claims as the Paris Olympics’ biggest swimming scandal taking a twist.

Kyle Chalmers has responded to claims he snubbed China’s gold medallist Pan Zhanle as the explosive fallout to the men’s 100m freestyle in Paris continues.

Pan took a swipe at Chalmers after obliterating the field and shattering his own world record in Thursday morning’s final.

Pan accused Chalmers of “ignoring” him in the opening days of the Olympics, saying the Australian and other rivals had “disrespected” the new freestyle king and his coaching staff.

Pan, 19, raised eyebrows with his historic 46.40 time with Chalmers making a late charge to take the silver medal a full 1.08 seconds behind.

Now the swirling drama has taken another turn with Chalmers calling his rival’s claims “weird”.

“I find it a bit weird, I gave him a fist pump before the relays,” Chalmers said in a statement released by Swimming Australia through the Australian Olympic team.

He proceeded to say: “And then my focus went to my teammates and my own racing. We had a laugh together at warm down last night - but no issues from my end.”

China's Pan Zhanle (R) has sent out a barb at Australia's Kyle Chalmers (L). Picture: Jonathan Nackstrand/ AFP

Speaking with Chinese media poolside, Pan appeared to claim he had been given the cold shoulder by his rivals in the days before the race.

“After we finished the 4x100m freestyle relay on the first day, I greeted Chalmers, but he completely ignored me,” he said in comments translated into English.

“This also included the US team’s (Jack) Alexy. When we trained, our coach was on the deck, and someone did a flip turn and splashed water directly on the coach.

“This behaviour seemed a bit disrespectful to us.

“But today, we beat all of them, and broke the world record in such a difficult pool. It was an extraordinary performance and a great start for the Chinese team.”

He went on to explain his tactics for the race: “My plan was to sprint hard at the beginning, and even if I got tired later, I would have to stick to it no matter how tired.

“In the last 15m, I realised I had pulled away from them too much, and they had no chance of catching up.

“I was accumulating my strength and felt the hopes of so many people in our country just before I entered the water.”

There was an awkward handshake on the podium between Chalmers and Pan.

Pan, Chalmers and bronze medallist David Popovici all indirectly touched on the icy situation in the post-race press conference.

The comments could cast light on renewed tensions within the swimming world, as Chinese athletes deal with scrutiny over doping scandals unearthed in recent weeks.

It comes a day after news broke that two Chinese swimmers tested positive to a banned steroid in October 2022, but this was not revealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Pan himself has not been caught up in any controversy, and at just 19 was competing at his first Olympics.

Chalmers and Pan shared a somewhat awkward handshake on the podium after receiving their medals.

Afterwards the Aussie said he did not suspect anything untoward about Pan’s sensational time.

“For him to produce a 46.40 and break the world record in the Olympic final is incredible,” he said.

“I do everything I possibly can to win the race, and guess everyone’s doing the same as I am and staying true to the sport and integrity of sport.

An overview shows China's Pan Zhanle winning this morning’s final. Picture: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP

“I trust that’s he’s done everything he possibly can to be there. And he deserves that gold medal. And I did everything I possibly could to challenge for that gold medal.”

Pan’s comments are a far cry from what he apparently told Chalmers just a few days ago, according to the Aussie sprinter.

“Pan, the Chinese boy, straight before we walked out said: ‘You’re my idol and I love, love, love watching you’,” Chalmers said after the men’s 4x100m relay.

Romania’s David Popovici, who won the 200m gold, was also sure Pan was clean.

Popovici came third in the 100m event, just 0.01 seconds behind Chalmers.

“I think we can go even faster. There are people now alive and who are swimming who can do it. It’s just a matter of putting it together and doing it at the right moment. And I think it’s very possible, even faster,” he said

“This is only motivation for us. I mean, we can’t be mad, we can only congratulate him. This is what sports is.

“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That’s all I have to say.”

Kyle Chalmers, Pan Zhanle and Romania's David Popovici. Picture: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP

It hasn’t stopped instant speculation about his world record time, however, in what has been described as a “slow pool”.

It was the first swimming world record to fall so far these Games.

“I’ve studied this sport, I’ve studied speed,” former Aussie Olympian Brett Hawke said.

“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.”

A swimming beef

Meanwhile, China has suggested Australian beef exports could be to blame for its athletes testing positive to “trace amounts” of metandienone – a banned steroid known for use in meat production.

China told WADA it believed two swimmers, Tokyo gold medal winner Tang Muhan and He Junyi, ate contaminated burgers at a Beijing fast food restaurant in October 2022.

The swimmers were banned for 12 months but have since been cleared – however, their positive results were not revealed publicly until this week.

Australia’s meat industry has hit back at suggestions its products could be to blame, with Meat and Livestock Australia saying metandienone “is not used in any capacity in Australian beef production or in any veterinary medicine.”

Muhan Tang was part of China’s gold medal relay team in Tokyo. Picture: Xavier Laine/Getty Images

The news sparked a back and forth between WADA and USADA, the American anti-doping body, with its chief executive Travis Tygart saying the games had been “tarnished”.

“China seemingly has the playbook to compete under a different set of rules tilting the field in their favor,” he said.

“The failed leadership of the anti-doping system has allowed one country special treatment at the very time we should all be united behind the Olympic values of fair play and respect for all fellow competitors.”

WADA hit back to say the issue had been politicised by the US media “to imply wrongdoing on the part of WADA and the broader anti-doping community”.

“As we have seen over recent months, WADA has been unfairly caught in the middle of geopolitical tensions between superpowers but has no mandate to participate in that.”

News of Tang and He’s positive tests was broken by the New York Times on Tuesday.

China’s anti-doping body, CHINADA, has accused the Times of trying to “disrupt the order of the Paris Olympic swimming competition, affect the psychology of Chinese athletes and weaken their competitive ability”.

“This is extremely unfair and immoral,” it said.

Originally published as Kyle Chalmers breaks silence on China Pan Zhanle snub storm