Kyle Chalmers has sought to play down the strained relationship between Australian and Chinese swimmers, saying there is no bad blood between him and Pan Zhanle after the 100m freestyle gold medallist alleged that Chalmers had snubbed him.
Tensions between China’s swim team and other nations have been high as a number of anti-doping controversies linger on the pool deck. After Pan won gold in a world record time on Wednesday, he alleged that Chalmers had “totally ignored me” earlier in the meet. Pan also accused an American swimmer, Jack Alexy, of acting disrespectfully towards Chinese coaches during a training session.
But on Saturday, the Australian three-time Olympian Chalmers said he had been in touch with his Chinese counterpart and would be visiting him in Shanghai this year.
“We’ve exchanged messages, which has been really nice,” Chalmers saidafter the men’s mixed medley relay heat. “I’m supposed to be going to the world cup series and the first leg is in Shanghai. He’s looking forward to having me there and wanted to show me around, so that makes me a lot more excited about going.
“I don’t think there was any animosity,” added Chalmers, who won silver behind Pan in the 100m freestyle. “From my point of view, I spoke to him in the marshalling room before the race, after the race went straight over and shook his hand in the pool, on the podium shook his hand and then had a great conversation before we started our cool-down.”
Chalmers won gold in the two-lap discipline at last year’s world championships, with Pan off the podium in fourth, before the Chinese prodigy got the better of the field in Paris in a world record time. The Australian said he anticipated the rivalry will be continuing in the years ahead.
“I really look forward to progressing our relationship and challenging each other and having some amazing battles in the pool over the years. It’s 1-1 now. Last year, we raced at the world championships and I got the better of him, but this year he got the better of me. So I look forward to taking it to round three next year.”
Chalmers said language barriers may have contributed to the misunderstanding. “We don’t speak the same language,” he said. “I know zero Chinese, so it’s quite hard to talk at the best of times. Again, I don’t have any issues.
“His race was amazing the other night and I’m honoured to be in the fastest 100m freestyle in history – it’s an incredible feat.”
