China snaps men’s Olympic medley relay streak, closes questionable swimming list with second gold

China won the gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay on Sunday, snapping the United States’ unbeaten streak in the event at the Olympics and capping a swimming program in which Chinese swimmers have faced questions about a doping scandal at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Mr. Zhanle, on his 20th birthday, swam the final leg, the 100-meter freestyle, in 45.92 seconds, moving China from third to first and claiming its 12th medal (its second gold) in swimming at these Olympics. Mr. Zhanle won his second gold, setting a world record in the 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday.

The U.S., which won silver, had made 15 of 15 in the event since its debut in 1960, winning every year except 1980, when the country boycotted. France took bronze ahead of Great Britain.

China won 12 swimming medals in Paris, doubling its tally from Tokyo, although it finished with one less gold. But its successes were met with criticism — one of which was the sport’s rules.

Background: On April 20, reports from The New York Times and German television station ARD revealed that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance seven months before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics — and were never punished. The banned substance was trimetazidine (TMZ), a prescribed heart drug that can improve performance by increasing blood flow to the heart.

Some athletes who tested positive went on to win medals in Tokyo. The swimmers were allowed to compete in the Olympics after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted China’s findings that the swimmers had unknowingly taken the substance from food they ate at a hotel.

American star Katie Ledecky and other American swimmers expressed their support for a strict anti-doping policy in the days before the Games. “I hope that everyone here (in Paris) competes this week without drugs,” Ledecky said July 24. “But what’s really important is: Did they train without drugs? I hope they did. I hope there’s even been testing around the world. I think everyone has heard what the athletes are thinking. They want transparency. They want more answers to the questions that are still there.”

On Sunday, British swimmer Adam Peaty, a member of the fourth-place relay team, expressed further scepticism about the system.

“I think we have faith in the system, but we also don’t have faith in it,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “Whoever is in the race, in my mind I expect it to be fair for them to be there. We did what we could as a team to do that, and maybe it was (worthy of) bronze. Who knows?”

The Chinese swimmers were not immune from questions. Pan, a two-time gold medalist, was not one of the 23 swimmers who tested positive before Tokyo. But he said he had been tested 21 times from May to July, according to The New York Times.

“The test was done according to all the rules, so I don’t think there was any difference or impact,” he said after winning gold in the 100-meter freestyle.

Pan also said he encountered tensions from his peers, although any issues have reportedly been defused. Pan reportedly told a Chinese broadcaster that Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers ignored him after the 4×100 freestyle relay on July 27, but Chalmers, who finished second in the 100 freestyle, told reporters he meant no harm and they exchanged messages.

“I was supposed to go to the World Cup series and the first match is in Shanghai. He’s dying to have me there and wanted to show me around, so that makes me a lot more excited to go,” Chalmers said, according to The Guardian.

Zhang Yufei, one of the swimmers who tested positive for the TMZ virus before the Tokyo Games and won a silver and five bronze medals in Paris, said at the start of the Games that she hoped her rivals would believe she was competing without contamination.

“I don’t think there’s a single athlete, Chinese or foreign, who has tested positive for doping,” she said, according to the AP. “They wouldn’t want to destroy all the hard work they’ve put into fighting doping over the years.”

It’s unclear what will happen next. After The New York Times reported Tuesday that two Chinese swimmers were cleared of doping charges in 2022 due to tainted food, WADA expressed concern about the number of cases being closed due to food contamination, not only in China but in several countries.

WADA said it launched an investigation in early 2024 into the “circumstances, scale and risk of metandienone contamination of meat” in China and other countries. That investigation is still ongoing, it said.

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(Photo: Adam Pretty / Getty Images)