They Said He Could Never Win. Then He Beat the World by a Full Second

For 92 years, swimmers from Europe, the United States and Australia owned the men’s 100m freestyle at the Olympics. Then a 19-year-old from Wenzhou, China, touched the wall in 46.40, beat the field by more than a full second, and left Michael Phelps stunned on live TV. But within 48 hours, that same swim got him accused of something far darker than being fast. In this video, we tell the full story of Pan Zhanle, from being picked out of a kindergarten by a scout at age four, to a childhood joke about beating Sun Yang, to a coach telling him to give up the 100 free, and finally to Olympic gold and a world record in Paris. We also separate the facts from the doping noise and look at how he answered four days later with a 45.92 relay anchor split. In this video: How a kindergarten scout discovered Pan Zhanle The 10-year-old’s bold goal of beating Sun Yang The coach who told him to quit the 100m freestyle His rise from 47.65 to the world record of 46.80 in Doha The 46.40 Olympic final in Paris What Michael Phelps said live on air The doping accusations and what is actually on the record The 45.92 relay split that answered the critics Is Paris his ceiling, or is there a faster swim left? If you enjoyed this story, please LIKE the video, SUBSCRIBE and hit the bell for more swimming stories, and tell us in the comments: does Pan Zhanle have a faster swim left in him? #PanZhanle #Swimming #100Freestyle #Paris2024 #MichaelPhelps #WorldRecord #ChinaSwimming #OlympicSwimming #SwimmingNews #SunYang