Triumph And Controversy: China's Historic Olympic Relay Win

China’s internet erupted with joy and pride on Monday after the country’s swimmers broke the United States’ decades-long dominance in the men’s 4x100 meters medley at the Olympics. This spectacular victory was particularly sweet for a Chinese team that has faced intense scrutiny following a doping controversy.

Pan Zhanle, who set a world record in the 100m freestyle last week, propelled China from third to first in the final leg of the relay on Sunday, overtaking his American and French rivals in a stunning comeback. Pan completed his leg in 45.92 seconds, faster than his 46.40 seconds in the 100m final four days earlier.

Team USA finished 0.55 seconds behind, marking the first time they failed to win gold in this event since boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympics. This ended their unbeaten streak dating back to the men’s medley debut at the 1960 Games.

This is China’s second gold in swimming at the Paris Olympics, following Pan’s record-setting win last Wednesday. However, outside China, their success has been met with scrutiny, including from their peers in the world of elite swimming.

The Chinese swim team has been under immense pressure since revelations that nearly half the group Beijing sent to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 had tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance months earlier. The swimmers had been cleared by China’s Anti-Doping Agency shortly before the Tokyo Games, which ruled that the positive tests for a banned heart medication were due to contamination, likely from a hotel restaurant. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted this assessment without an appeal.

The accusations, first reported by the New York Times and German public broadcaster ARD in April, have sparked backlash in the swimming world, where doping violations can result in years-long bans for athletes. Concern deepened last week after WADA acknowledged a separate 2022 case in which two Chinese swimmers tested positive for trace amounts of a banned anabolic steroid. They were provisionally suspended but later cleared of a violation by Chinese officials, again citing food contamination.

In China, many social media users viewed the swim team’s historic relay win as a resounding vindication. The victory dominated discussions on Chinese social media on Monday, creating several top-trending topics on Weibo. The hashtag “Pan Zhanle’s stunning reversal” garnered over 500 million views, as did another hashtag about the relay gold medal.

Pan, who turned 20 on Sunday, called the team gold medal his birthday present. “I fulfilled the promise I made a year ago by celebrating my 20th birthday with a team gold medal,” he wrote in a viral post on Weibo, where he became an overnight celebrity with 1.6 million followers. “A new journey has begun, and the goals have been quietly set. I hope I can make an even greater contribution to the team. The Chinese swim team is always the best!”

Pan also won fans for his confidence and candidness. In a pool-side interview with state broadcaster CCTV right after the event, some of Pan’s teammates expressed dissatisfaction with their own performance in the earlier legs of the relay. Pan cheered and praised his teammates: “The race is over, and the championship is ours. It shouldn’t be us who are dissatisfied; it should be the others.”

In China, where the swim team has long been a source of Olympic glory, the doping allegations have brought outrage and accusations of unfair treatment, especially over the scrutiny the team has faced this summer. Nearly a dozen Chinese swimmers who tested positive three years ago are competing in the Paris Olympics, including two of the quartet that won relay gold on Sunday.

Double gold-medalist Pan did not test positive in 2021, but he has also faced questions over his stellar performance in Paris. After Pan smashed the world record in the 100m freestyle last week, Brett Hawke, a former Australian Olympic swimmer and coach, posted on Instagram that “it’s not humanly possible to beat that field” and that the swim was “not real life. Not in that pool, against that field.”

Back in China, state media and internet users have rallied to Pan’s defense. On Monday, many Chinese social media users applauded Pan for defying the pressure and proving his accusers wrong. “If breaking the record the first time didn’t convince the foreigners, this stunning reversal surely did. (Pan’s) so impressive and dominant!” said a comment with 2,300 upvotes. “Our strength speaks for itself. We won the gold fair and square,” said another.

However, overseas doubts linger. After Sunday’s relay, British triple Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty called for stricter doping testing after the British team finished fourth in the race. “I think we’ve got to have faith in the system, but we also don’t,” he said, according to Reuters. “I think it’s just got to be stricter. One of my favorite quotes I’ve seen lately is there’s no point in winning if you don’t win it fair. And I think you know that truth in your heart. Even if you touch and you know you’re cheating, you don’t win it, right. So, for me, if you’ve been on that and you have been contaminated twice, I think as an honorable person, you should be out of the sport.”