“I’m just happy for the US to know I am competing clean and doing what is right”, King said after defeating Efimova in the 100m breaststroke earlier in the week. She’s a gold medalist. She won her second silver of the Olympics on Thursday night, her first coming in the infamous 100-meter breaststroke race in which King won gold the day after wagging her finger at Efimova and calling her a cheater.
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King, 19, set an Olympic record with her time of 1 minute, 4:93 seconds in the final swim.
Efimova was one of several Russians who successfully argued in legal appeals last week that having served their original doping suspensions, they should not be punished again for the same offence by being barred from Rio.
They went into detail about Yulia and her history with doping (aka cheating).
Phelps, who is known as the “Baltimore Bullet”, has never tested positive for any kind of banned substance.
Phelps said “it breaks my heart” after controversy over athletes who have previously failed drugs tests broke out at the Rio swimming competition. She was also asked about her thoughts on Justin Gatlin, a USA sprinter who has served two doping bans, and said, “Do I think someone who has been caught for doping should be on the team?” “You’re shaking your finger “No. 1″ and you’ve been caught for drug cheating”, King said in an interview with NBC. “Of course she has the right to her opinion, but you need to be objective and you need to be honourable”.
When asked if USA athletes who have fallen foul of the drug testers, such as sprinters Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay, deserved to be in Rio, King, 19, pulled no punches. She claimed to have stopped using meldonium before it was prohibited, and she was able to compete after the International Swimming Federation reversed the ban. You know I think [Lilly] is right.
Good for Lilly King, and good for her hometown of Evansville, which was my home for eight years.
King and Efimova got into a finger-wagging back-and-forth quarrel leading up to the medal round. “Also, if I had been in Yulia’s position, I would not have wanted to be congratulated by someone who was not speaking highly of me”.
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After Wada found that the Russian government and the FSB security services had spent years covering up hundreds of doping cases across most Olympic sports and Paralympic events, 109 out of the 387 athletes initially in Russia’s team were banned.
