Is Pan Zhanle Cheating?? Discussing the New Sprint King

China won gold in the 4 x 100 medley relay at the Paris Olympics… and I’m still sour about it

I was a part of that relay.

In Rio 2016, I swam the breastroke leg on that Olympic gold-medal winning team. A team which comprised of swimming legends Michael Phelps, Ryan Murphy and Nathan Adrian. Before this summer, Team USA had only ever won that race.

And so the loss was very hurtful for me, my country and my friends on that relay team.

As well as that, it hurts that we lost to China

Not because I have anything against China, but because of the things we, in the swimming world, know have been going on.

I mean just last year, they had 23 positive drug tests.

And a few of the swimmers that were on that gold medal winning relay were on that list of failed drug tests.

You would be justified in at least raising an eyebrow for that.

Now, on the question of Pan specifically… do I think that he's cheating? Should we look at his world record with skepticism?

I believe in innocent until proven guilty.

And other than the fact that Pan happens to be from China, we have no reason to suspect that that he’s doing anything illegal.

Pan was not one of the 23 Chinese athletes that had failed drug tests.

He's never had a failed drug test.

To my knowledge, he doesn't even train in that part of China with those athletes.

The only thing Pan has in common with those athletes is that he competes with them at major meets a few times a year.

Imagine if Caeleb Dressel (one of my favorite people of all time) broke a world record at a big competition, and then 5 swimmers in Utah tested positive for drugs.

That would have nothing to do with Caeleb because he trains in Florida and he’s thousands of miles away from those swimmers. They don't train together. The only time they’re in contact is when they're at big competitions a few times a year.

We can't just assume someone's cheating just because there's been some suspicious activity in their country. It's just not fair.

In my opinion, Pan’s world record is totally legitimate. If I ever had the opportunity to meet him, I would shake his hand and tell him that I'm inspired by him.

Unless there's concrete evidence to suggest that there is something fishy going on, we have to assume swimmers are innocent until proven guilty.

My Controversial Opinion on World Records

What would you rather?

Win an Olympic Gold Medal or set a World Record?

In my opinion, that's an easy answer - win an Olympic gold medal.

History remembers Gold Medalists, not the times. If you're a swim nerd like myself, you love to follow world record progressions , you love to follow times at big meets. I love that stuff.

But at the end of the day, that's not what the world cares about.

The world record can be set at any time AND at any swim meet around the world.

But you only have one shot to win the Olympic Gold Medal every four years - that's what the history books remember.

That's just my opinion. What do you all think? Let me know in the poll below!

Until my next newsletter, I will see you all - later