Olympic Champion Pan Zhanle opens up on sad reality of quadrennial games in Paris despite record-breaking win

Reigning Olympic champion and world record holder Pan Zhanle is one of the best freestyle swimmers in the world right now, with huge audiences cheering him on as he swims. However, the Chinese star recently opened up about the unaffordability of tickets for major events and revealed that his family rarely watches him live.

Zhanle has had an incredible year, skyrocketing to fame after setting a new 100m freestyle world record at the Doha World Championships earlier this year. He later reset his own record on his way to gold at the Paris Olympics.

Now, competing at the Swimming World Cup in Shanghai, the youngster revealed that his family was in the audience and could make the trip since it was close to their home.

“It will be troublesome for my parents and grandad [to come and watch me compete] when they get too old to walk, and I [go overseas for competitions regularly]. This competition is in Shanghai, which isn’t too far from my home, so it’s a good opportunity [for them to see me],” he told the South China Morning Post.

He explained that getting tickets for such events was expensive, and his family couldn't make it to Paris.

“But the ticket is really tough to get; they can’t get them at all. We called everyone and many friends to help them. What’s particularly sad is that they were not at the scene when the record was broken in the 100m freestyle at the Paris Olympics.”

Besides Zhanle, British Olympic swimmer Matt Richards has previously spoken about the high ticket prices for major events.

Pan Zhanle’s results at Shanghai Swimming World Cup

Pan Zhanle's results from the Swimming World Cup (Source: Getty)

For Pan Zhanle, the Shanghai Swimming World Cup brought a series of lukewarm results. The 21-year-old was originally scheduled to compete in four events - the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 100m individual medley, and the 50m breaststroke, but ended up opting out of the last event.

In his trademark race, the 100m free, Zhanle was forced to settle for silver with a time of 46.35s, behind Italy's Thomas Ceccon. Meanwhile, the Chinese swimmer finished sixth in the 100m individual medley finals and failed to make it out of the heats in the 200m freestyle event.

Pan Zhanle is next scheduled to compete at the Swimming World Cup in Korea, scheduled to take place between October 24 and 26, where he'd be hoping to put up a better performance.