Tag Archives: Jack Alexy

Chinese outrage + drama at 2024 Paris Olympics fact checked!

Should the Chinese be outraged at 2024 Paris Olympics?!

Many Chinese citizens and netizens worldwide are outraged at what they believe were genuine insults and examples of Sinophobia and blatant racism at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Chinese swimmers, in particular, were under heavy scrutiny and testing, which many Chinese netizens felt were excessive, while other people felt were justified. After all, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) before the Tokyo Olympics, and some of them later tested positive for clenbuterol.

In this article, we will go through the viral claims and videos, and find out if their outrage and constant drama at the 2024 Paris Olympics are warranted, or not.

Chinese outrage + drama at 2024 Paris Olympics fact checked!

Claim : Kyle Chalmers + Jack Alexey disrespected Pan Zhanle
Verdict : Unlikely

Right after he smashed the men’s 100m freestyle world record, Pan Zhanle told Chinese media outlet CCTV (China Central Television) that he was motivated to beat Chalmers and Alexy after they disrespected him:

Unfortunately, no one else could verify Pan’s claims. Not even the Chinese coaches spoke up about the “grave insult” of being splashed by Jack Alexy while standing at the pool side. There is also the inconvenient fact that people standing by the pool side, can and do, get splashed whenever a swimmer does a flip turn…

On top of that, Kyle Chalmers was seen congratulating Pan Zhanle for winning the gold medal, after beating him by a full second. Chalmers even defended Pan against doping concerns. You can read more about this drama in our earlier fact check article.

Claim : Western media tried to give Pan Zhanle drugged water
Verdict : False

Chinese netizens are sharing a Douyin video, or its screenshot, which claims that a “Western media person” tried to sabotage Pan Zhanle by offering him water containing drugs after he won the gold medal. That is a completely fabricated story.

If that actually happened, it would have been reported widely and investigated as a crime. It would also have been severely criticised by China, and the Chinese media outlets.

However, there has been no official complaint, and neither Pan Zhanle nor the Chinese Olympics contingent ever claimed that there was an attempt to sabotage his win by giving him water containing drugs. There was also no report of such a crime by the IOC, the French police, or the mainstream media.

You can read more about this ridiculous claim in our fact check article.

Claim : Leon Marchand refused to shake hands with Chinese coach
Verdict : Just a misunderstanding

This video has gone viral on social media, with many netizens (not just Chinese) criticising French swimmer Leon Marchand for refusing to shake the hand of Chinese swimming coach, Zhu Zhigen.

https://www.techarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Leon-Marchand-ignores-Chinese-coach-handshake-video.mp4?_=1

According to Beijing Youth Daily reporter, Song Xiang (source), Leon Marchand apologised to the Chinese swimming team. He explained that he wasn’t fully paying attention, and thought that Coach Zhu Zhigen was just helping him with the rope. He didn’t realise that the coach was offering a handshake, as he was bending down to slip under the retractable stanchion.

According to Chinese journalist Li Jingling (archive), Leon Marchand apologised twice to the Chinese swimming team, and personally apologised to Zhu Zhigen, saying that he didn’t mean to neglect the coach. Both men hugged and exchanged gifts. So it appears that, while Leon Marchand did indeed ignore the Chinese coach’s handshake as seen in the viral video, it was just a misunderstanding.

Claim : British women divers refused to acknowledge Chinese rivals
Verdict : False

This video clip has gone viral on Chinese social media, and in certain Chinese diaspora groups, claiming to show how British women divers discriminate against their Chinese rivals, by ignoring them and hugging the North Korean women instead.

https://www.techarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/British-divers-refused-to-hug-Chinese-divers-video.mp4?_=2

The truth is the Chinese and British divers had already finished their dives earlier, and were waiting for the North Korean women to finish theirs. Any congratulations (or hugs) between the British and Chinese women would have happened before the North Korean women dived.

After the North Korean women finished their dives, the results were announced – they won the silver medal – their country’s first diving medal ever. That was why the British women went over to hug them. It was a historic moment.

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the full, unedited video, so I cannot “prove” that the British women divers did not “diss” the Chinese women divers. However, I can prove that there is no animosity between the British and Chinese women divers. In fact, Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Quan Hongchan have a history of hugging each other!

It appears that, being petite, Quan Hongchan enjoys hugging and being carried like that. That could explain why she had her partner, Chen Yuxi, hug her the same way in that viral video. In fact, Chen Yuxi actually continued hugging her and carrying her out of the pool area!

You can read more about this ridiculous claim in our fact check article.

Claim : Western reporter intentionally knocked into Chinese athlete
Verdict : False

This video has also gone viral, with people claiming that it shows a Western reporter intentionally bumping Chinese table tennis champion Wang Chuqin in a racist attack.

The foreign reporter deliberately bumped into our athletes. Look at the reporter’s face. He deliberately bumped into Wang Chuqin. Do you know how difficult it is for our athletes now? This is the racism in the bones of Westerners.

https://www.techarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Western-reporter-knocking-into-Chinese-athlete-video-small.mp4?_=3

The woman was not a reporter. She was a Swedish photographer, which can be confirmed by her grey vest that says “PHOTO 1717”. She can also be seen lugging two large and heavy cameras – one with a long monopod attached, and the other held up to her face.

Two different videos with alternate angles show that the female photographer was swerving to avoid two men coming from the front. They also show that she was looking through the viewfinder of her camera, which was pointed to the left, when she bumped into Chinese table tennis star, Wang Chuqin.

The videos also showed that the photographer was startled when she bumped into Wang Chuqin, and quickly said “Oh, sorry” before swerving away and continuing on her way. Clearly, it was all just an accident, and it was not a racist attack on a Chinese athlete by a Western reporter.

You can read more about this ridiculous claim in our fact check article.

I will keep adding more cases as they appear. For certain, there will be more to come, as it looks like the 2024 Paris Olympics is turning into a circus of drama surrounding Chinese athletes!

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Did Alexy + Chalmers disrespect Pan Zhanle at 2024 Olympics?!

Claim : Jack Alexy + Kyle Chalmers disrespected Pan Zhanle at 2024 Olympics!

On the first day, after the 4×100 free relay, I went to say hi to Kyle [Chalmers] and he ignored me

Including [Jack] Alexy from the American team – while we were training, [Jack] Alexy splashed our coaches on the side of the pool with water while he was doing a flip turn.

I felt that they looked down upon us, can I say this? And today I finally beat them all.

Pan Zhanle’s accusations triggered great indignation amongst Chinese netizens, and no amount of glee that the young Chinese star swimmer beat the two Westerners who disrespected him. That’s a great tale of sweet revenge for the people in China, but is there any actual evidence to back his claims?

No evidence Jack Alexy / Kyle Chalmers disrespected Pan Zhanle at 2024 Olympics!

Let’s dissect Pan Zhanle’s claims about Jack Alexy and Kyle Chalmers disrespecting him, and see where the facts stand…

Fact #1 : No one else saw Jack Alexy splash Chinese coaches

According to Pan Zhanle, Jack Alexy appeared to “deliberately” splash water on the Chinese coaches while he was doing a flip turn.

As anyone who has watched relay swimming can tell you – people standing next to the touchpad are likely to get splashed whenever a swimmer does a flip turn. But how does any swimmer “deliberately” target who they splash when they do the flip turn???

For his part, Jack Alexy was surprised by Pan’s allegations, and pointed out that doing turns was a normal part of training:

I can honestly tell you I don’t know when that happened. Doing turns is part of anyone’s work process. When I heard that, I was pretty surprised.

Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn’t. No one else could confirm or verify Pan’s account. Not even the Chinese coaches, who were allegedly splashed by Alexy, spoke up about the “grave insult” of being splashed while standing at the pool side.

Perhaps those Chinese coaches understood that getting splashed with water is, literally, an occupational “hazard” of all swimming coaches…

Fact #2 : Kyle Chalmers congratulated Pan Zhanle earlier

It is more clear-cut when it comes to Kyle Chalmers though, because he actually had good memories of Pan before being accused of being disrespectful:

I find it a bit weird, I gave him a fist pump before the relays. And then my focus went to my teammates and my own racing. We had a laugh together at warm down last night, but no issues from my end.

But here’s the clincher. Just before Pan Zhanle made those claims in the CCTV interview, Kyle Chalmers actually congratulated him on winning the gold medal and beating him by a full second – okay, 1.08 seconds to be exact!

Does that look like Kyle Chalmers was disrespecting Pan Zhanle with that hand shake? More so when Chalmers actually spoke up two days earlier about how Pan idolised him:

Pan, the Chinese boy, straight before we walked out said: ‘You’re my idol and I love, love, love watching you”. So that was kind of crazy.

So Kyle Chambers not only acknowledged Pan Zhanle as a fan, he also congratulated Pan on his win, before being accused of being disrespectful.

Fact #3 : Kyle Chalmers defended Pan Zhanle

On top of that, Kyle Chalmers defended Pan Zhanle, when he was asked whether he thought that the race was fair, in light of recent Chinese doping concerns.

… yeah, I trust that he’s doing everything he possibly can to be there, and [Pan] deserves that gold medal, and I did everything I possibly could to challenge for that gold medal and be on the top podium.

It would beggar belief that Kyle Chalmers would publicly defend Pan Zhanle against doping concerns if he really did not respect the Chinese star swimmer.

Fact #4 : Kyle Chalmers stayed in touch with Pan Zhanle

On Saturday, 3 August – two days after the race, Chalmers said that he had been keeping in touch with Pan Zhanle, and would would be visiting Pan in Shanghai later this year.

We’ve exchanged messages, which has been really nice. 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.

He also explained again that he never disrespected the young Chinese swimmer, and could not understand what the drama was all about.

I don’t think there was any animosity. 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.

All of our conversations we’ve ever had has been positive, from world championships last year through to this year. From my point of view it’s fine. I can’t really comprehend why this is happening.

Regardless of what we may think of Pan’s accusations, Kyle Chalmers have so far, demonstrated great sportsmanship, and shown that he has been a complete gentleman about this whole drama.

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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!

Name : Adrian Wong
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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