China's gold medal-winner Pan Zhanle hit out at "disrespectful" United States and Australian rivals following his triumph in the 100 metres freestyle.
The 19-year-old shattered his own world record in 46.40 seconds, faster than his previous best of 46.80 seconds, set in February.
Following the success, he highlighted the poor treatment his team had received, primarily from US' Jack Alexy and Australia's Kyle Chalmers.
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He also reminded both it was he who had the last laugh in the Paris pool with gold on Wednesday.
"On the first day, during the 4×100m relay, I greeted Chalmers, but he completely ignored me, and even Alexey from the American team was dismissive," he said. "During training, when our coach was on the side, they would splash water directly on him with their flips, which felt quite disrespectful.
"Today, we finally defeated all of them and broke the world record in such a challenging pool. It was an excellent performance and a great start for the Chinese team."
Australia's Chalmers clocked 47.48 seconds winning silver, with Alexy coming in seventh with a time of 47.96.
The tension between China and the US has heightened following strong criticism from the United States Anti-Doping Association towards the World Anti-Doping Association after the revelation 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance were freed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.
On Wednesday, China's anti-doping agency accused The New York Times, who were among the outlets to disclose information regarding the failed tests to the public, of politicising doping issues and said they were trying to "affect the mental state" of Chinese athletes and "weaken their competitive abilities".
And speaking after the race Chalmers said he was confident there was no foul play.
"I do everything I possibly can to win the race and I trust that everyone's doing the same as I am and staying true to sport and the integrity of sport," he said. "So yeah, I trust it, I trust that he's done everything he possibly can to be there and he deserves that gold medal."
It was the first swimming gold medal for the Chinese delegation in Paris following earlier defeats for gold medal-favourites Zhang Yufei and Qin Haiyang.
And Pan's glory has attracted widespread praise on social media site Weibo.
"One can only imagine how tough it has been for the swimming team in Paris, facing rumours, discrimination, and isolation, with multiple doping tests in a single day," one user commented. "Securing the gold medal is truly relieving; in the face of absolute strength, everything else fades into insignificance."
"At 19 years old, Pan Zhanle broke through and led the way, ending the long-standing dominance of European and American athletes in the men's 100 metres freestyle gold medal! A proud moment and a great relief for many of us!" another added.
"Congratulations! Thank you for stepping up during a challenging time for the Chinese swim team," another said.
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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2024-08-01T04:32:54Z