The Russian swim star served a 16-month suspension for doping in 2014.
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However, not all athletes agreed that the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist should be competing alongside them.
To prove her point, she made sure to beat her nemesis in the next race, and of course, she won the final showdown, a victory that inspired her to pound her fist twice in the 24-year-old Russian swimmer’s lane.
Other athletes backed King, with Ireland’s Fiona Doyle saying: “Cheaters are cheaters”.
“You know, you’re shaking your finger No. 1, and you’ve been caught for drug cheating, I’m just not a fan”, King said Sunday.
“One, I was really in the moment with Katie and celebrating the US victory”, she said.
She added, “If that’s what she feels she needs to be able to compete, whatever, that’s her deal. I’m here to compete clean for the USA”.
“I think people should be speaking out more”.
“Efimova has been through a very severe ordeal, and in an atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty I think she showed very strong character – resilience and focus – and so I think she deserved her medal”, said Salnikov.
King has been especially critical of Efimova, who was approved for competition in Rio just hours before being scheduled to swim. From her hometown Evansville, Indiana, vehicle wash to social media, America was voicing its support for her quest to beat the cheating Russian. After a silver medal, the Russian swimmer wants everyone to understand that her doping has a reasonable explanation, and that she’s stung by her vilification. “We’ve had this problem for how many Olympics now? I’m disgusted to see athletes who cheated on a podium”. It’s kind of sad today in sports in general, not just in swimming…
Efimova, who was the reigning world champion, had been initially barred from the Olympics due to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. “Cheaters are cheaters”, she said. Efimova had previously tested positive for meldonium, a drug that has recently been banned in the Olympics.
The headlines in the mainstream media were far from impartial when commenting on the Efimova-King story.
But King didn’t stop at criticizing her opponents, she even went after her own USA teammates.
Organisers were forced to make an unprecedented appeal to athletes after the legendary Michael Phelps – the most decorated Olympian of all-time – waded into the row over swimmer Yulia Efimova.
Read that here for Efimova’s emotional plea to be accepted in Rio.
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Things really got heated when Efimova won her qualifying heat for the finals. I always thought the Cold War was long in the past.
