Kyle Chalmers' rival stuns again as Adam Peaty levels bombshell 'cheating' claim at Olympics

British swimming legend Adam Peaty has launched a scathing attack on China after their win in the 4x100m medley relay final at the Olympics, which saw Kyle Chalmers' rival Pan Zhanle produce another incredible swim. But it wasn't Pan who drew Peaty's ire.

Rather it was the Brit's breaststroke rival Qin Haiyang, who was part of the Chinese foursome who won gold. Pan came from the clouds to secure the gold medal, producing a staggering split of 45.92 in the anchor freestyle leg.

That came after he lowered his own world record in the 100m final to 46.40, finishing over a second clear of Chalmers in second. The extraordinary swim immediately raised eyebrows due to the doping cloud hanging over China, but Chalmers was quick to play down any suggestions Pan had an illegal advantage.

But the same can't be said of Qin, who was reportedly one of 23 swimmers who tested positive to a banned substance in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics three years ago - but were still allowed to compete. World anti-doping authorities accepted China's explanation that the positive results came from swimmers eating contaminated food at a team hotel.

It caused an absolute firestorm in the lead-up to the Paris Games, with 11 of the 23 swimmers also competing at this Olympics. Aussie breaststroker Zac Stubblety-Cook even suggested he might stage some sort of protest if he was on the same podium as Qin, but the Chinese swimmer failed to make the final in the 200m event.

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Adam Peaty blasts China and world anti-doping authorities

But the situation was thrust back into the spotlight on Sunday night when Peaty made explosive new comments. Speaking after GB finished fourth in the medley relay behind China, the USA and France, Peaty appeared to reference new allegations that Qin also returned a positive test for a different performance-enhancing drug in 2017 – which was also blamed on contaminated food.

He said: “One of my favourite quotes is 'there’s no point in winning if you are not winning fair'. I think you know that true in your heart. If you touch [performance enhancing drugs] and you know you’re cheating, you’re not winning, right?

“For me, if you’ve been on that and you’ve been ‘contaminated’ twice I think as an honourable person you should be out of the sport. But we know sport is not that simple. I’ve also been asked about people who haven’t been on the contamination [list]. I don’t want to paint a nation or group a people with one brush. I think that’s very unfair. But there has been two cases of it and I think that is really disappointing."

Peaty also said authorities need to do their job better, despite Chinese athletes being subjected to unprecedented levels of drug testing in Paris. "I’ve tried to keep out of the conversations for the benefit of the team. But I think the people that need to do their job, wake up and do your job," he added. "We’ve got to have faith in the system. But we also don’t [have faith in the system]. They’ve just got to be stricter. What I’ve said from the start is that it’s fraud. If you’re cheating, it’s fraud.

“And it’s not just them. It’s whoever is in the race. I expect in my head whoever is in there has got to be fair. We did our best job as a team to do that. It may have been bronze [tonight], who knows. But I’m just happy to do my best and come away with (individual) silver. I did my best. I do want to be fair and I didn’t need anything to give me that. That’s what sport is.”

Qin swept all three breaststroke titles at the 2023 world championships, and also broke the 200m world record. But he wilted in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the Olympics, fading to seventh in the 100m final and failing to even make the 200m final.

with agencies