The Olympic swimming championships began with Katie Ledecky exposing the institutional cover-up of doping by Chinese swimmers and bringing the semi-cold war between the United States and the great Asian power to the pool. The dispute culminated a week later in the battle of the medley relays, Pan Zhanle’s last act. The Chinese became the first man to swim 100 meters in under 46 seconds and gave his country the gold medal in the 4x100m medley, the title that honors the most complete team, a trophy that the United States had not lost since it was established in the 1960 Games.
The red-capped rocket started third in the final leg. France, led by Ndoye, Marchand and Grousset, was in first place with Manaudou, and the United States was in second place with Hunter Armstrong. What followed will go down in the annals of science. Because Pan came back first with a one-meter lead. He touched the last wall in 45.92 seconds and crowned China with the most prestigious trophy at the end of the poorest competition for the American men’s team since 1956.
It was at the Melbourne Games in 1956 that the United States took home more than 15% of the gold medals in swimming. It was the lowest point of a hegemony. A country that since then has hoarded more than 30% of the golds – a percentage that has exceeded 50% in several Olympic events – until the Tokyo Games, in the midst of a pandemic, already without Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, showed signs of exhaustion and took 29% of the triumphs. Harassed in Paris by Australia (7), France (4), Canada (3), Italy (2), Hungary (2) or China (2), the blue team collected 23% of the golds. Eight out of a total of 34. The worst harvest in more than half a century, the second worst in Olympic history. It would not have won a single individual men’s gold in swimming if Bobby Finke had not appeared on the scene yesterday.
“China, Italy, France… the wealth has been shared!” proclaimed Caeleb Dressel, winner of five golds in Tokyo, and satisfied in Paris with a gold in the 4×100 freestyle and a silver in the 4×100 medley. “I think this creates an uncertainty that we saw in the medley relay and it is good for the sport. That said, in Paris we won eight golds, more than any other team.”
Ever since the United States has fielded a running team at the 1904 Games, it has always won gold in the men’s individual events. Discredit hung over the delegation when Finke set out to defend his Olympic 1,500m title in Tokyo after finishing behind Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen in the 800m. There was a ton of reputation at stake. Finke did not disappoint. From 1 metre he swam at world record pace. With Gregorio Paltrinieri hounding him relentlessly in the centre lane, the Tampa man had to worry about keeping up the kick cycle. His feet must have been burning when he touched the final wall in 14m 30.67s. The mark shaved half a second off Sun Yang’s record, set at the 2012 Games: 14m 31.02s. Today Sun Yang is sanctioned for breaching World Anti-Doping Agency rules. But Omega’s records are not erased.
The Paris Games organisers and the pool manufacturer Myrtha, the company that made the deepest and fastest pools in history, claimed from day one that the prefabricated pool at La Défense was fast. Despite its relatively shallow depth of 2.2 metres, which since 2023 is against World Aquatics regulations, and which has been proven to slow down the propulsion of swimmers, especially men. The verdict in Paris was 16 Olympic records and four world records, including the mixed relay. In Tokyo, 25 Olympic records and five world records were broken; in Rio, 15 Olympic records and eight world records; and in London, 16 Olympic records and eight world records. In Beijing, Athens and Sydney, when waterproof swimsuits were still legal, even more so.
The average indicates that Paris therefore recorded the slowest races of the century. That in this scenario Pan Zhanle went under 46 seconds in the last 100 freestyle of the relay underlines the dimension of his record. “It is what I expected,” he said, impassive. “It is normal. I set myself the goal of going under 46 seconds at the beginning of the year and I have achieved it.”
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