Efimova’s two-year ban for testing positive to 7-keto-DHEA three years ago was reduced to 16 months because she insisted she took the steroid unknowingly.
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Efimova was.57 seconds behind King, who finished in 1 minute, 4.93 seconds.
But King isn’t just upset with Efimova.
In an interview with NBC King said, “You wave your finger No. 1 and you’ve been caught drug cheating?”
However, the Russian’s hit back did not go down well with Ms King, who told a press conference: “I basically said what everybody’s thinking. And I’m going to stick to my guns”.
King didn’t acknowledge Efimova during a raucous victory celebration. “That we can still compete clean and do well at the Olympic Games, and that’s how it should be”.
Meanwhile, Efimova was reportedly crushed that she lost the race.
When asked about the open show of disapproval, King didn’t hold back.
She declared herself “not a fan” of the Russian and criticised the decision to let her compete.
“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”. It’s kind of sad today in sports in general, not just in swimming… The Russian swimmer failed a drug test for melodonium earlier this year, but was controversially allowed to compete in Rio.
King’s forthright comments earlier in the week raised tensions between the U.S. and Russian teams further, with the Russian swimming head, Vladimir Salnikov, saying the atmosphere reminded him of the cold war.
Cold War rhetoric that dominated the Olympics in the 1970s and 80s resurfaced in Rio after a simmering dispute between Russian and American swimmers boiled over.
Lilly King may have pulled off a feat in the Olympic 100 meter breaststroke that’s equal to Babe Ruth’s “called-shot” home run in the 1932 World Series.
For all of the American swimmers we’ve mentioned above, this is their first Olympics – just as it was for Kathleen Baker, who won the silver medal Monday in the women’s 100-meter backstroke.
She added: “Do I think somebody who has been caught doping should be on the team?”
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“It’s really hurtful because now lots of athletes don’t understand that, they simply watch the television and believe everything”.
