“China’s Flying Fish,” 20-year-old swimming sensation Pan Zhanle, garnered widespread attention after breaking the world record at the Paris Olympics. In post-competition interviews, he frequently made memorable remarks, leaving an impression of “childlike honesty.” On Monday, August 5th, during a CCTV interview, Pan Zhanle sharply criticized the food in the Olympic Village, saying, “The meat is as hard as chewing wood.”
CCTV host Wang Bingbing interviewed Pan Zhanle, asking, “How’s the food in the Olympic Village?” Pan straightforwardly replied, “The food here is terrible.” Wang Bingbing tried to “smooth things over” by saying, “It’s just too bland,” but Pan firmly stated, “It’s really bad.”
Pan continued, “The only seasoning here is salt. The meat is like chewing wood, and even if you want to add seasoning, there’s none available.” After saying this, Pan realized and asked, “Am I not supposed to critique the Olympic Village?” He then rephrased, saying, “The food here has a very local flavor, unique, so unique it’s at another level.”
The interview clips once again sparked discussions among netizens:
“Lele really says what he thinks, never beating around the bush.”
“19 years old: says what he thinks. 20 years old: understands social niceties, but not too much.”
“Pan Zhanle has a way of speaking bluntly but still having high emotional intelligence, not allowing himself to suffer any grievances.”
“You can say he’s bold because he still tries to correct himself afterward. You can say he’s socially savvy, but he still says everything outright.”
“His grandfather mentioned in a recent interview that Lele has never been picky about food since he was a child; he eats everything without needing adults to worry.”
In fact, this wasn’t Pan Zhanle’s first “complaint” during the Paris Olympics. Previously, Pan won gold in the men’s 100m freestyle with a time of 46.40 seconds, breaking his own world record of 46.80 seconds and the Olympic record of 46.92 seconds.
After the race, during a CCTV interview, Pan suddenly said he had “avenged a past humiliation,” and began complaining, “Previously, during our first day in the 4×100 relay, I greeted [Australia’s] Kyle Chalmers, but he ignored me, as did [the U.S. team’s] Jack Alexy during training. They splashed water on the coach on the shore while doing flip turns, giving off a sense of disdain for us.”
Pan hesitated while “complaining,” wondering, “Can I say this?” But the CCTV reporter encouraged him to continue. Pan then said, “Today, I finally defeated all of them!”