China’s internet explodes with pride at ending US swim relay reign – and a sense of vindication

By Nectar Gan and Hassan Tayir, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — China’s internet exploded with joy and pride Monday after the country’s swimmers ended the United States’ decades-long reign in the men’s 4×100 meters medley at the Olympics, a spectacular win for a Chinese team that has faced intense scrutiny in the wake of a doping controversy.

Pan Zhanle, who set the world record in the 100m freestyle last week, powered China from third position into the lead in the final leg of the relay on Sunday, overtaking his American and French rivals in a stunning reversal.

Pan finished in 45.92 seconds, faster than the 46.40 seconds he swam four days earlier in the 100m final.

Team USA finished 0.55 seconds behind the Chinese team, failing to take gold in the event for the first time since the US boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics and ending its unbeaten streak stretching back to the men’s medley debut at the 1960 Games.

This is China’s second gold in swimming at the Paris Olympics, following Pan’s record-setting win last Wednesday.

But outside China, their success has been met with questions – including from some of their peers in the world of elite swimming – following revelations that nearly half the group Beijing sent to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 had months earlier tested positive for a banned performance enhancing substance.

The swimmers had been cleared by China’s Anti-Doping Agency shortly before the Tokyo Games, after it ruled that the positive tests for a banned heart medication were the result of contamination, likely from a hotel restaurant. The global sports doping watchdog World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted the assessment without an appeal.

The accusations, first reported by the New York Times and German public broadcaster ARD in April, have sparked backlash in the swimming world, where doping can result in years-long bans for athletes who violate the rules.

Concern only deepened last week, after WADA acknowledged a separate 2022 case in which two Chinese swimmers tested positive for trace amounts of a banned anabolic steroid. They were provisionally suspended but later cleared of a violation by Chinese officials – again citing contamination linked to food, WADA said.

In China, many social media users saw the Chinese swim team’s historic win in the relay as a resounding vindication.

The victory dominated discussions on Chinese social media on Monday, creating several top trending topics on microblogging site Weibo. The hashtag “Pan Zhanle’s stunning reversal” racked up more than 500 million views, as did another hashtag about the relay gold medal.

Pan, who turned 20 on Sunday, called the team gold medal his birthday present.

“I fulfilled the promise I made a year ago by celebrating my 20th birthday with a team gold medal,” he wrote in a viral post on Weibo, where the swimmer became an overnight celebrity with 1.6 million followers.

“A new journey has begun, and the goals have been quietly set. I hope I can make an even greater contribution to the team. The Chinese swim team is always the best!”

Pan also won fans for his confidence and candidness.

In a pool-side interview with state broadcaster CCTV right after the event, some of Pan’s teammates said they were not happy with their own performance in the earlier legs of the relay. Pan cheered and praised his teammates: “The race is over, and the championship is ours. It shouldn’t be us who are dissatisfied; it should be the others.”

‘We won fair and square’

In China, where the swim team has long been a source of Olympic glory, the doping allegations have brought outrage and accusations of unfair treatment – especially over the scrutiny the team has faced this summer.

Ahead of the relay victory Sunday, the Chinese Embassy in Washington called on the US to “stop using the doping issue to smear and suppress China.”

In a statement, the embassy accused the US of “disparaging Chinese athletes and affecting their participation in the Paris Olympics” and “deep-rooted ‘double standards’ mindset.”

Nearly a dozen Chinese swimmers who tested positive three years ago are competing in the Paris Olympics, including two of the quartet that won relay gold on Sunday.

Double gold-medalist Pan did not test positive in 2021, but he has also faced questions over his stellar performance in Paris.

After Pan smashed the world record in the 100m freestyle last week, Brett Hawke, a former Australian Olympic swimmer and coach, posted on Instagram that “it’s not humanly possible to beat that field” and that the swim was “not real life. Not in that pool, against that field.”

Back in China, state media and internet users have rallied to Pan’s defense.

“According to the logic of some in the West, when European and American athletes break records, it is seen as a breakthrough for ‘human potential,’ but when Chinese athletes set records, it is labeled as ‘humanly impossible.’ Isn’t this absurd double standard a blatant form of racism?” the Global Times, a state-run tabloid, said in an English-language editorial Monday.

In another report in Chinese, the outlet accused the US of “exercise ‘long-arm jurisdiction’ over other countries” and “interfering with the Olympics with ‘double standards’ over the anti-doping issue.”

Many Chinese social media users applauded Pan for defying the pressure and proving his accusers wrong.

“If breaking the record the first time didn’t convince the foreigners, this stunning reversal surely did. (Pan’s) so impressive and dominant!” said a comment with 2,300 upvotes.

“Our strength speaks for itself. We won the gold fair and square,” said another.

But overseas, doubts linger.

After Sunday’s relay, British triple Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty called for stricter doping testing after the British team finished fourth in the race.

“I think we’ve got to have faith in the system, but we also don’t,” he said, according to Reuters. “I think it’s just got to be stricter.”

“One of my favorite quotes I’ve seen lately is there’s no point in winning if you don’t win it fair,” Peaty said. “And I think you know that truth in your heart. Even if you touch and you know you’re cheating, you don’t win it, right.

“So, for me, if you’ve been on that and you have been contaminated twice, I think as an honorable person, you should be out of the sport.”

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CNN’s Joyce Jiang and Simone McCarthy contributed to this story.