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Swiatek Wins Bronze at Paris Olympics for Poland's 1st Tennis Medal at Any Summer Games

Iga Swiatek of Poland returns a shot to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia during their women's bronze medal match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Iga Swiatek of Poland returns a shot to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia during their women's bronze medal match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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Swiatek Wins Bronze at Paris Olympics for Poland's 1st Tennis Medal at Any Summer Games

Iga Swiatek of Poland returns a shot to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia during their women's bronze medal match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Iga Swiatek of Poland returns a shot to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia during their women's bronze medal match, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Iga Swiatek used a towel to wipe tears from her eyes at the Paris Olympics after earning a bronze for Poland's first tennis medal at any Summer Games by beating Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-1 on Friday.
The match took just 59 minutes, and Swiatek played much more cleanly than she did a day earlier in a straight-set loss to Zheng Qinwen of China in the semifinals, The Associated Press reported. That result ended Swiatek's 25-match unbeaten streak at Roland Garros, the clay-court facility used for the French Open each year and for the 2024 Olympics.
After losing to Zheng on Thursday, Swiatek skipped any questions from print reporters in the mixed zone area for interviews. Her face flushed and eyes red, Swiatek did not break stride as she passed journalists, saying only: “Sorry. Next time.”
The No. 1-ranked Swiatek was a popular pick to leave Paris with gold, in large part because she has won four of the past five French Open titles, including the last three in a row. She also won the 2022 U.S. Open.
Schmiedlova defeated both the reigning Wimbledon champion, Barbora Krejcikova, and the runner-up there and at the French Open this year, Jasmine Paolini, on her way to the semifinals, before losing to Donna Vekic of Croatia. Schmiedlova is a 29-year-old who is ranked 67th and has one fourth-round appearance at a Slam. That came last year at Roland Garros.

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China's State Media, Netizens Rally Around Pan after Claims 100m Swim not 'Humanly Possible'

China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
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China's State Media, Netizens Rally Around Pan after Claims 100m Swim not 'Humanly Possible'

China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
China's Pan Zhanle takes part in warm up prior to an evening finals session of the swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on August 1, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

China's state media, athletes and netizens rallied to support Olympic swimming champion Pan Zhanle after critics including an Australian swim commentator said his world record swim in the 100 meters freestyle was not "humanly possible".
Pan smashed his own 100 meters freestyle world record, shaving 0.40 seconds off the previous mark he set at the World Championships in Doha in February, to humble rivals including Australia's Kyle Chalmers and Romania's David Popovici.
The 19-year old Pan finished in 46.40 seconds to take China's first swimming gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games. His win came after he "completed rigorous doping test programs prior to and during the games with zero positive results," the China Daily said on Friday.
According to Reuters, Pan said he took 21 doping tests from May to July prior to the games. "I cooperated with all the testing procedures and stayed confident that I am competing fair and clean," he told the newspaper.
"I did a lot of aerobics and endurance training to strengthen my push and kick in the final split. We have also adopted a scientific underwater monitoring and analyzing system to review our techniques and strokes, so that we can train better and more effectively."
Australian coach and commentator Brett Hawke posted on his Instagram that "It's not humanly possible to beat that field" and that the swim was "not real life. Not in that pool, against that field."
Hawke's comments were widely shared on China's Weibo platform with one user commenting: "It's so cool to see them incompetent, angry and breaking their defenses."
"He is praising us, saying that position is impossible but sorry we did it," said another.
The Chinese swim team has 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.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation that the results were due to contamination from a hotel kitchen, and an independent review backed WADA's handling of the case.
A World Aquatics audit concluded there was no mismanagement or cover-up by the governing body. Pan's name was not among the Chinese swimmers listed in the reports by the New York Times and German broadcaster ARD.
"The Chinese swimming team underwent more tests in two weeks than foreign athletes did in an entire year," China's Global Times Newspaper wrote. Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei, who won the bronze medal in the women's 200 meter butterfly final, responded to questions about Pan during a press conference on Thursday.
"Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they swim so fast? Why didn't anyone dare to question Phelps when he won?"