PARIS — It would be nice to believe that Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle’s scorching obliteration of the Olympic field and world record in the men’s 100-meter freestyle Wednesday night was a completely fair and honest athletic accomplishment. Nice, but also naive.
China forfeited the benefit of the doubt, as did the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) and World Aquatics. That’s the cloud it has created and has to live under. Every great Chinese swimming feat here—and there have been few so far—will be greeted by suspicion more than celebration.
