Paris Olympics 2024: 100m freestyle gold medallist Pan Zhanle accuses Kyle Chalmers of snub

Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle has accused Australian Kyle Chalmers of snubbing him earlier in the Olympic Games after taking out the gold medal in the men’s 100m freestyle final.

Pan became the first swimmer to break a world record in Paris with a barnstorming performance in the men’s 100m freestyle final on day five, finishing more than a second clear of the chasing pack in a time of 46.40sec.

Chalmers hit the wall in eighth but the 2016 gold medallist and 2020 silver medallist stormed home to claim another silver, touching the wall one-hundreth of a second before Romania’s David Popovici.

But speaking with Chinese television after the race, Pan accused Chalmers of ignoring him earlier in the Games.

“On the first day, at the 4x100 relay, after we finished swimming I greeted Chalmers. He didn’t pay me any attention at all,” Pan told China Central Television.

He also said American Jack Alexy had made movements “like he was deliberately splashing water on China’s coaches” in training.

There have been no outward signs of friction between the pair, who exchanged a post-race hand slap and posed together on the podium.

Speaking after the final, Chalmers said Pan, who is seven years his junior, had christened him as his “idol” on multiple occasions in conversations between the pair.

“Last year, I remember walking out before the final of the world championships and just he was maybe a lane next to me. He actually came up to me, and I didn’t know he spoke any English at that stage, and he said, ‘Kyle, I have so much respect for you. You’re my idol’,” he said.

“Then again tonight, after the race, I congratulated him and he said, ‘You are my idol’. I look at him the same as any competitor.”

Tensions have been high between the Australian and Chinese camps but Pan was not one of 23 Chinese swimmers who were revealed in the lead-in to Paris to have tested positive to a steroid before the Tokyo Games.