Lilly King, a USA swimmer who won gold, had previously wagged her finger at Efimova.
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The meeting was highly anticipated, and it didn’t disappoint – particularly from Lilly King’s point of view.
After receiving a sassy finger wag from American swimmer Lilly King, Efimova was booed by the crowd as she took her place on the podium to collect her silver medal for the 100-meter breaststroke.
Efimova, in tears after the race and struggling with her emotions at a tense news conference, said: “Right now I’m really happy after all the stuff that has happened because I’m here racing. USATF follows and supports this concept, which is consistent with the policies of other sports and with the USA legal system”.
“I think it just proved that you can compete clean and still come out on top”, King said of her win.
What a change from 1976, when American swimmer Shirley Babashoff was lambasted by the American public and media for being a sore loser and nicknamed “Surly Shirley” for pointing out the obvious – that East German rivals who denied her gold in four races had deep voices and mustaches. When asked if she felt she’d made a statement with her win, King later told NBC, “I hope I did”.
The pair embraced and Efimova sobbed hysterically for almost five minutes and Mitkova attempted to console her. King did not shake Efimova’s hand and wagged her finger at Efimova, calling her a “drug cheat”. The second time it was not my mistake. “So, if she wished to be congratulated, I apologise. And I just don’t think that’s fair”. “I have the impression I am watching athletics, with two or three doped in each final”. “For me it was very hard to swim today, and this is three weeks it’s been like insane”, she said.
It became an instant Internet meme, with people tweeting out their best #PhelpsFace jokes, poking fun at the look of pure concentration on Phelps’ face as Le Clos shadow boxed around him.
It was one hell of a 100-meter women’s breaststroke final at the Rio 2016 Olympics. And like King, Murphy shared his moment with a teammate: bronze victor David Plummer.
But, the rivalry between the two has a deep history, going all the way back to the 2012 Olympics, when Le Clos defeated Phelps for the gold in the 200m butterfly.
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The US, China and Russian Federation have all topped the list in the previous three games although Russia’s final tally is set to be considerably lower because of the bans.
