US Men Come Up Empty-Handed in 4×100-Meter Medley First-Time Shock

NANTERRE, France — In a stunning upset, the Chinese men’s team secured gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay at the Olympics, dethroning the American team that had historically dominated the event.

This victory marks the first time since the event’s inception in 1960 that the U.S. failed to clinch gold, excluding the 1980 Moscow Games they boycotted. The Chinese lineup included Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, both of whom faced controversy over past doping allegations but were still allowed to compete.

Qin and Sun were part of a group of nearly two dozen swimmers who had tested positive for a banned substance at the Tokyo Games. Their participation and subsequent victory are likely to generate significant debate and dissatisfaction among international competitors.

The linchpin for the Chinese victory was Pan Zhanle, who previously set a world record in the 100 free. He delivered a powerful anchor leg, outpacing American swimmer Hunter Armstrong to finish in 3 minutes, 27.46 seconds, securing the gold.

The U.S. team finished the race in 3:28.01, taking home the silver, while France captured the bronze with a time of 3:28.38. This race gave Léon Marchand his fifth medal of the games, adding to his impressive haul of four individual golds.

Caeleb Dressel, one of the standout swimmers for the U.S., experienced a particularly rough finish in Paris. The silver medal in the medley relay was his first non-gold Olympic medal. Despite winning gold in every event he competed in at the Tokyo Games, and securing another gold on the first day of this Olympics, Dressel failed to reach the finals in both the 50-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly.

The American star showed visible signs of distress, shedding tears after failing to make the fly final with the 13th-fastest time shortly following a sixth-place finish in the 50 free.