China's Pan Zhanle hailed a perfect world record swim that delivered the Olympic 100-meters freestyle gold on Wednesday and said he was unaffected by a doping storm that had engulfed his swim team in Paris.
The 19-year-old's incredible swim of 46.40 seconds at La Defense Arena sliced 0.40 seconds off his previous world record, set at the World Championships in Doha in February, while delivering China its first swimming gold.
China's swim team have been under intense scrutiny since revelations in April that 23 of the country's swimmers tested positive for a banned heart medication in 2021 but were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.