For 64 years since the men’s 4×100 metres medley relay was introduced at the 1960 Rome Games, the United States swimmers had never lost even once – till now. The only time it did not win gold in the event was when the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. On final day Sunday (August 4), however, Team USA was stunned – and incredibly upset – when its unbeaten record was crushed by Team China.

 

The U.S. dominance in the men’s 4×100 metres medley came to an end when Chinese superstar Pan Zhanle, who set the world record in the 100m freestyle earlier, swam like a rocket when he powered China from “third position” into the lead in the final leg of the relay, overtaking American and French rivals in a jaw-dropping reversal. The unbelievable victory was like in a film.

 

Together with Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, Team China won the gold in a time of 3 minutes, 27.46 seconds. Pan himself finished in 45.92 seconds – faster than the 46.40 seconds he swam four days earlier in the 100m final. Caeleb Dressel and the Americans ended with silver, 0.55 seconds behind the Chinese, while France took the bronze, finishing in 3:28.38.

In China, social media celebrated the Chinese swim team’s historic win in the men’s 4×100 relay. The hashtag “Pan Zhanle’s stunning reversal” racked up more than 500 million views. It was a sweet victory for the teen, who celebrated his 20th birthday on the same day his team destroyed the U.S.’ dream. He surpassed the previous seconds clocked by American Jason Lezak at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

But, as expected, there have been an uproar of protest and anger – most likely due to jealousy – from the Western swimmers even before Pan led his teammates to the victory in the men’s 4×100 relay. When Pan celebrates after winning the men’s 100-meter freestyle final at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Wednesday (July 31), the Chinese swimming team was accused of “cheating”.

 

For example, Australian coach and commentator Brett Hawke had scrambled to post on his Instagram that “it’s not humanly possible to beat that field by a body length” – clearly was upset that not only Pan Zhanle broke his own world record, but also defeated Kyle Chalmers of Australia, who clocked a 47.48 for silver. Chalmers won gold in the 100-meter freestyle in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Worse, the Aussie swimmer showed a very poor sportsmanship when he totally ignored the Chinese swimmer after Pan Zhanle said “Hi” to him after the 4×100 free relay. While Chalmers did not dispute Zhanle’s new record, he claimed Pan told him “You’re my idol and I love, love, love watching you,” before the race. But the Aussie was not the only one who gave the Chinese the cold shoulder.

 

American splinter Jack Alexy too was not happy with the threat from Chinese swimmers. Pan said – “And while we were training, Jack Alexy splashed our coaches on the side of the pool with water while he was doing a flip turn. I felt that they looked down upon us, can I say this? And today I finally beat them all.” Alexy only managed 7th place in 47.96 seconds.

 

The swimming feud started since a bombshell report in April accusing 23 of China’s swimmers tested positive for a banned heart medication in 2021, but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) agreed with a Chinese investigation, which blamed it on a widespread contamination from a hotel kitchen.

Catherine Ordway, associate professor of sport at the University of Canberra said that many parts of the world use steroids in rearing lean beef and pork and that tests could pick up minuscule amounts in athletes who are unaware they have consumed them. She even reminded her own country that no one had challenged Australian swimmers in Paris when they broke Olympic records.

 

An audit by World Aquatics concluded there was no mismanagement or cover-up by the governing body. To add fuel to the fire, Beijing raised suspicion that an Australian beef company could be behind two additional Chinese swimmers testing positive for a banned substance in 2022 before being cleared again. Chinese officials have called the doping allegations “false”, “misleading” and “defamatory”.

 

Joining American and Aussie sore losers is British swimmer Adam Peaty, whose team missed out on a medal by finishing fourth in the men’s 4×100 medley relay. Without providing any proof, besides accusing China of cheating, he wants the Chinese swimmers to be kicked out of the sports. Great Britain’s pool swimming team finished the Olympics with only 1 gold and 4 silvers.

China has retaliated, reminding the West of how an American sprinter, Erriyon Knighton, who participated in the 200-meter finals was tested positive for a banned substance in March but the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency allowed him to compete after agreeing that it came from contaminated meat. So, it screams “double standards” when American can claim innocence, but not the Chinese.

 

The China Anti-Doping Agency has called for more intensive testing of American track and field competitors, the same way Chinese swimmers were being subjected to similar testing. In reality, more than 600 tests had been slapped on Chinese swimmers at the Paris Games with no violations found. It was so bad that Pan said that he had slept little before the final because of a doping test that ran into the early hours of the morning.

 

In fact, according to World Aquatics, each Chinese swimmer has been tested on average 21 times from January 1 to the start of the Games. In comparison, Australian and American swimmers were tested only four and six times on average, respectively. That’s four times more testing on Chinese than the Western swimmers. Still, no violations have been found on swimmers from Team China.

The Chinese swimming team underwent more tests in two weeks than foreign athletes did in an entire year. Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei, who has won three bronzes in Paris, said – “Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they swim so fast? Why didn’t anyone dare to question Michael Phelps when he won (eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games)?

 

In truth, China has become one of the world’s most competitive sporting nations in recent decades, so much so the United States feels threatened ever since the Chinese topped the gold medal table at the Beijing Games, surpassing the U.S. for the first time. China is the only third country after the U.S. and the former Soviet Union to top the gold medal count at a Summer Olympics away from home soil.

 

At the just concluded Paris 2024 Olympics, China and the U.S. tie for top spot in gold medal count, taking home 40 each. Had Hong Kong’s two gold medals added into China’s medal standings, China should have surpassed the U.S. with a total of 42 golds. Like it or not, the Chinese not only won every gold medal square and fair, but they have done so through hard work and a comprehensive training system.

If Brett Hawke really wanted to talk about what is not humanly possible, perhaps the Aussie swimming coach should study how is it possible that Quan Hongchan could score not only a perfect 10 on her first of five dives, but she also made a forward 3-and-a-half somersaults without making a splash. Yes, the 17-year-old Chinese diver won the Gold Medal with a dive so flawless the water doesn’t even splash.

 

She is already a three-time Olympic gold medalist at the age of 17, having won Gold in Tokyo three years ago when she was only 14-year-old. She scored a perfect 10/10 from a panel of 7 judges in Women’s 10m Platform Final on August 5, 2024 in Paris after the diver left all the judges stunned and speechless with her insane superhuman “no splash” dive.

 

When she was 16, she got a total score of 367.00 from all the judges after a near-perfect performance World Aquatic’s Diving World Cup 2023 in Montreal, Canada. Her team-mate Chen Yuxi came in at second place at 342.90 and Great Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix in third with 287.40. The huge difference of points between the Chinese and the Western speaks volumes about China’s supremacy.

Is it humanly possible to jump from that height and not make a splash? You get more splashback from your toilet than that. Quan has reached another level where her lowest score is higher than most other athletes’ highest scores. To beat her, you need to first beat her teammate, who happens to be her closest rival and training buddy, Chen Yuxi, who won a Gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

 

But Quan Hongchan did it through hard work and rigorous training. She is the third of five children born to a family of farmers in Guangdong. She was discovered in 2014 by coach Chen Huaming, who was on a recruitment drive for a group of freshmen to participate in a summer camp for diving. Chen was impressed with her spectacular jumping technique and became her first diving instructor.

 

Quan’s father was an orange farmer, whilst her mother worked in a factory until a car accident left her in poor health. Born on March 28, 2007, Quan began diving when she was 7-year-old, when she could leap an impressive 1.76 meters. She joined the diving team in Guangdong province in 2018, and began winning gold medals that year – at the age of 11. She revealed her goal was to earn more money to treat her mother’s illness.

Growing up, she had never been to an amusement park or a zoo. In October 2020, at age 13, she won the National Diving Championship in the 10-metre platform event, having learned all the moves in the “three weeks” leading up to the competition and would go to beating several world and Olympic champions to win the Gold. At the end of the year Quan was put on the national team.

 

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Quan was the youngest athlete in the Chinese delegation, becoming the second-youngest Chinese diver to win an Olympic gold medal (the youngest was 13-year-old Fu Mingxia). Winning the gold medal, Quan set a new Olympic record with 466.20 points, beating Chinese diver Chen Ruolin’s previous record of 447.70 points, which she had set at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

 

Interestingly, Chen Ruolin would become Quan’s head coach, leading to her ability to perform the breathtaking “water splash disappearance technique”. Under the stringent guidance of Chen Ruolin and through relentless training sessions, the teenage prodigy continuously adapted and improved. More importantly, it showcased the depth and breadth of talent within the Chinese diving program.

But even the innocent 17-year-old Quan and her teammate Chen Yuxi received childish reaction when the British team in the women’s 10-meter diving platform snubbed the winning Chinese divers to congratulate the North Korean silver medalists instead. Yes, the racist West can’t accept that China has gotten better, and they sulk and whine – even willing to rub shoulders with hostile North Korea out of envy.

 

It has become so ridiculous that the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), caught in the trade war and geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China as well as American’s desperate attempt to suppress the Chinese’ threat in sports, reveals to BBC – “Certain individuals in the U.S. are attempting to score political points purely on the basis that the athletes in question are Chinese”.

 

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August 13th, 2024 by financetwitter

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