Good grief. Disappointing exit for the U23 USMNT. Totally embarrassed by Morocco. It is beyond frustrating watching these overage players competing in what should be a U23 tournament.
Morocco kicks our ass in soccer 4-0 and proves Steely Dan right; You're never gonna do it without the Fez on.
‘Not humanly possible’: 5 big questions for China as swim doping row escalates (msn.com) When Pan Zhanle of China stormed to 100m freestyle victory on Wednesday night, it reopened a festering sore. China have been under suspicion of running a doping programme for their swimmers since before Tokyo 2020 and Pan’s swim, which broke his own world record by nearly half a second, was met with incredulity and accusations that it was not clean. An Australian coach, Brett Hawke, himself a former sprint swimmer, said Pan’s swim was “not humanly possible”. Hawke added: “Listen, I’m just going to be honest. I am angry at that swim, I’m angry for a number of reasons. “That’s not real, you don’t beat that field – Kyle Chalmers, David Popovici, Jack Alexy – you don’t beat those guys by one full body length in 100 freestyle.” The day before Pan’s swim, US Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart said that “China had swept this positive test [in 2021] for a hardcore steroid under the rug”.
Yeah, I've mentioned here before that my wife is a former elite swimmer. That was literally what she said when we watched that. Her first words were "Yeah, that isn't possible naturally. Not in this pool."
IOc said min 2 m deep pool, swimming federation asked for 3M, cheap french built 2.1m deep. that swim in that event in this pool isn't natural. they may have masking agents or new drugs but nothing will convince me he beat the best at that length by a full body length and did it naturally. pool likely added 0.2 compared to a fast pool
Play devil's advocate a bit here because I don't know...if China has figured out a doping program that avoids detection, wouldn't it be evidenced by other events and with their other athletes?
Yeah, the amount of chop during a 100 free would be absolutely absurd with the shallow pool. No way somebody sets a record by 0.4 seconds in a 100 free with that type of chop. There is a reason that a drop like that hasn't happened since the 50s, I think. And that includes the time around London/Beijing, when the suit technology improved and people pretty much had to set a world record to win races at the Olympics.
I understand the skepticism given it’s China. But saying is not humanly possible is dumb. In 2015 Adam Peaty broke the 100m breast world record by 0.54 seconds. A year later he broke it again by 0.42 seconds. It’s absolutely humanly possible for certain athletes to rewrite the record books. Look at Ledecky. She lowered the 1500 WR by 22 seconds!!!
It is true in a general sense. There are elite and absurd athletes that can do that. Peaty is the best to ever swim the 100m breast, for sure (and the 50m breast, although they don't run that at the Olympics). Same with Ledecky at the 1500 (or 800). But, in that pool, where nobody is setting records due to the chop, it is almost impossible that somebody sets a record like that in this day and age. I think it is literally the only record that has been set in the entire meet, which is extraordinarily rare for an Olympics and makes that type of drop hugely suspicious, especially given China's history in the sport and sudden return to the elite of the sport after their last time being elite was due to a massive doping program.
Agree. Most of their other swimmers are not performing well. And this slow pool isn’t affecting Leon Marchand, who put up personal bests in 200 fly and 200 breast in the same session. Again, I understand the skepticism. Personally, I think PEDs are everywhere. But for this guy Hawke to come out publicly with those type of statements, with zero evidence, reeks of xenophobia.
We’ll see about the slow pool. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Marchand break the 200IM record. It’s been a slow meet in general I agree. But not for everyone. And Zhanle avoided the crazy chop by pretty much smoking everyone from the get go. In a fast pool, maybe be goes faster. It happens. The guy is certainly talented, and his technique is as good as it gets. If we find out later that he is doping, I wouldn’t be surprised. I just think Hawke’s statements are completely irresponsible and unfair. Even Zhale’s peers disagree. They know how good he is.
I still have an open mind although I'm also somewhat skeptical that doping wasn't a factor keeping the following in mind: Pan Zhanle did the unthinkable on Wednesday in the men’s 100 meter freestyle. The 19-year-old didn’t just break the most difficult world record in swimming, but he smashed it by 0.4 seconds — and beat second place by 1.08 seconds, a full body length. What has ensued from that moment is, in a word, ugly. There have been allegations of doping from one side, claims of racism from the other, and in the middle the inescapable reality that what ensued simply doesn’t make sense. There has been a history of doping inside the Chinese swimming team. From 1990 to 1998 a total of 28 swimmers tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. A story in April of 2024 by the New York Times reported that 23 swimmers from China tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine at the Chinese Swimming Championships in 2021, only to have 13 of them compete in the Tokyo Olympics. It’s raised huge questions about the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA), and whether the body has deference to China in terms of pushing their athletes.Pan Zhanle’s new swimming world-record at Olympics makes no sense, and that’s the problem
