Nevertheless, she has been largely considered as one of the most controversial athletes of the current Olympics.
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King, however, went even further after her victory over Efimova in a remarkable display of straight-talking for one so new to the world stage.
On Monday King beat the twice-banned Russian swimmer in the 100 meters breaststroke final.
Efimova was initially banned from the Olympics, but that decision was overturned on appeal. King demonstrated her disapproval in another way.
She said: “I’m not a fan”. The pre-finals had seen Efimova edge out her rival and she celebrated by wagging her finger to say “No. 1”. On national TV she explained what she was thinking – and she did it in no uncertain words. “Hopefully, people that are cheating now know that they’re going to get caught”.
Russian swimming chief Vladimir Salnikov said on Tuesday the atmosphere surrounding his team at the Olympics reminded him of the Cold War, and criticised American breaststroke champion Lilly King for attacking the integrity of her Russian rival. She had a fantastic swim. An Olympic record swim for the gold, just to put an exclamation point on the night. The battle between the two top seeds, America’s good girl Lilly King and shunned Russian doping antihero Yulia Efimova, was a battle of good, evil, and Dee Reynolds.
That Efimova was even swimming in the lane next to King was puzzling to begin with. Not long after winning gold she returned to the pool to qualify quickest in the second women’s 200m individual medley semi-final. The ecstatic swimmer shared her win through Instagram. Despite a previous 16-month drug ban and then testing positive earlier this year for meldonium-the heart medication also favored by Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova-Efimova was allowed to race. Yet somehow global swimming officials found a way to let her compete. “My life is changing right now”, King told reporters. “I’m just happy to be here”, the 24-year-old said, also fighting back tears. But especially standing for what I believe is right, I felt that I needed to perform better tonight than I had in the past. “It kind of breaks what sport is meant to be and that’s what p****s me off”, he added.
The medalists marched single file into a room of 40 journalists, Efimova followed by bronze medalist Katie Meili, followed by King.
“If she was wishing to be congratulated I apologize”.
King has made no secret about her feelings about doping in general and Efimova specifically.
Following the Richard McLaren report for the World Anti-Doping Agency, Efimova was suspended again.
That didn’t sit well with King, who doesn’t compromise on the issue. That seemed to have changed two weeks ago, when the International Olympic Committee announced that past Russian drug takers would not be allowed to take part on the games. I bet she could’ve run a presidential campaign and convinced people to write her, a 19-year-old from IN, onto the ballot IN November.
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“I didn’t respond because I don’t have time for drug cheats”, Horton said afterwards.
