On Wednesday in Paris, Pan Zhanle achieved an incredible 46.40 seconds in the men’s 100 meter freestyle race, breaking his own world record set earlier this year at the World Championships in Doha. This is the first gold medal for the Chinese swimming team at the Paris Olympic Games.
This year’s games are the first Olympic Games for the 19-year-old rising star. Three years ago, Pan wasn’t even able to qualify for the Short Course World Championships. Disappointed, he changed his Weibo username to “Spectator on the Stands” to motivate himself. With his Olympic victory, he has ensured that he’s far more than a spectator, and realized the promise to himself he made in an interview when he was just 10 years old: that he wanted to swim faster than Sun Yang, who was then Olympic champion in men’s 200 meter freestyle.
Pan Zhanle hails from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. In the unique local dialect, his name sounds like “breaking the record,” a coincidence that seemed to foreshadow his record-breaking swimming skills. But his success isn’t just fate: it is grounded in his determination and relentless efforts in the swimming pool. Out of the pool, Pan exhibits the ambition and straightforwardness typical of a young athlete. When questioned by reporters about doping tests, he simply stated how frequently he and his team have been tested throughout the race season, explaining that this “normal procedure” hadn’t distracted him. The Chinese swim team has recently faced doping allegations, though Pan was not implicated in reports by The New York Times and German broadcaster ARD.
The athlete also expressed pride in demonstrating his abilities, particularly to those from other countries who might underestimate the Chinese team. “One person in a swimming pool can swim fast! A team in a swimming pool can swim even faster!” Pan wrote on his Weibo after winning the gold medal, expressing his gratitude to the Chinese swimming team. His upcoming performances in the Olympic Games are certainly worth watching.
Banner Image via AFP-JIJI.
