On the morning of August 5, Chinese swimmers created an impressive shock when they won the gold medal in the men’s 4×100 meter mixed relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics. This victory not only affirmed their strength on the track but also surprised the world with China’s “new replacement” for the US championship position over the years.
Chinese swimming had a successful Olympics.
With a time of 3 minutes 27 seconds 46, Pan Zhanle, Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun ended the dominance of American sports in the Olympic men’s 4×100 meter mixed relay.
The US team won silver in 3:28.01. France finished third in 3:28.38.
Chinese players (white shirts, standing) receive medals with the US team (dark blue shirts) and England team.
Except for the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the US team had never lost the Olympic men’s 4×100-meter medley relay gold medal since it was introduced in the 1960 Rome Games.
The defeat was particularly painful for both the British and Americans. “The Chinese were just a little better than us today,” Ryan Murphy told The Athletic after the defeat. He and the US team failed to defend their gold medal.
However, while Murphy was upbeat and said that his Chinese opponents deserved full credit for their “fantastic performance”, his teammate Nic Fink had a more nuanced view.
“We have questions about the system and whether the Anti-Doping Agency is doing the best it can,” said the US men’s 4x100m medley relay silver medallist.
The biggest controversy was that of British swimming legend Adam Peaty, who, after losing the event with the British team, suggested that the Chinese swimmers were cheating.
“One of my favourite quotes is that winning doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win it fair and square,” Peaty told the Guardian. “In my heart, if you win and you know you’re cheating, you don’t really win.”
Although the British team were expected to win the event, they finished fourth.
Peaty was disappointed, saying it was a huge blow and even “considering retirement”. The British swimming legend also made a point of mentioning two formidable opponents from China, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, who played a key role in the Chinese team’s victory in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
Notably, both Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun were among 11 swimmers allowed to compete at the Games, despite testing positive for small amounts of banned performance-enhancing drugs.
The Chinese delegation later claimed that their athletes tested positive because of contaminated food. However, Peaty disagreed with that explanation.
“For me, if you’ve been ‘caught’ twice, you should leave the sport with all due respect,” he said. “But we know sport is not that simple.”
Peaty later said he did not want to “syndicate” all Chinese swimmers, who had achieved glory without any problems with banned substances before the tournament. However, he also admitted feeling tired after the defeat at the Paris Olympics and stressed that everything needs to be fair.
Peaty caused controversy when he said that the Chinese athletes who won the men’s 4x100m medley relay “were cheaters”.
Meanwhile, Xu Jiayu, the Chinese champion, confidently affirmed that he and his teammates always strictly followed the rules to prevent banned substances. “The Chinese swimming team has no problem. We always follow the rules,” Xu declared after making history.
Peaty is not the first person to be skeptical about the incredible performance of Chinese swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics. After Pan Zhanle broke the world record in the men’s 100m freestyle, Australian expert Brett Hawke caused a stir when he commented on his personal page
“This achievement (Pan Zhanle breaking the record) is impossible for a human being. This is not an achievement that can happen in real life, with this opponent and this tournament,” Hawke wrote.
In the men’s 100m freestyle final, Pan Zhanle beat Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, who finished second, by 1.08 seconds. In terms of time, Zhanle was 2.3% faster than his opponent, the largest difference in the men’s 100m freestyle since the 1928 Olympics.
However, Hawke’s comments later sparked outrage among the public and many Chinese athletes, who believed that Pan Zhanle and other Chinese swimmers had been subjected to excessive doping tests before and during the tournament.
