“It’s incredible, winning the gold medal and knowing I did it clean”, King told ESPN’s Bonnie D. Ford after the victory.
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After Efimova won her semi-final round on Sunday, she wagged No. 1 with her finger.
“It just proves you can compete clean and still come out on top with all the hard work you put in behind the scenes, behind the meet, at practice and weight sessions”, said King, a 19-year-old Indiana University student.
Spectators jeered when Efimova received her medal. She received boos and klaxons (obnoxiously loud horn sounds used on boats or ships) from the spectators in Rio when she came out to participate.
The tension between the two exists because Efimova was suspended for 16 months between 2013 and 2015 after testing positive for banned drug DHEA.
You see, Efimova, who has a history of doping, was booed almost every time she entered the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio after being tied to the Russian state-sponsored doping scandal.
“Do I think people who are caught for doping offences should be on the team?” If you are not under a ban, regardless of what you may have served in the past, you are fully eligible to be on the team.
That ban was imposed a week after the publication of a report into Russia’s state-run doping programme, with Efimova one of several Russians ruled out for their previous convictions. But another appeal to the CAS last week let Efimova and six other Russian swimmers into Rio. U.S. competitors have been outspoken about their Russian rivals.
“Also, if I had been in Yulia’s position, I would not have wanted to be congratulated by someone who wasn’t speaking highly of me”, King said.
Efimova said she’s been treated unfairly, having already served a penalty for a doping violation that occurred while she was training in Los Angeles with one of America’s most prominent coaches, Dave Salo. “When I see the 200m podium I want to be sick”.
It’s good to see swimmers making waves about a scourge that’s only getting worse. “But I was so exhausted that I told the Hungarians before the race that I could get anything from first place to eighth place”.
Horton’s criticisms have caused a social media storm from Yang’s fans – unfortunately, much of their vitriol has been mistakenly directed towards IT worker Mark Horton from Watford.
Australia’s Mack Horton inflamed tensions with China when he didn’t say hello to rival Sun Yang “because I don’t have time for drug cheats”.
Very short post from The Stack today as we will just touch on some of the big headlines from Monday’s Olympic events in Rio.
Swimming’s war of words overshadowed a day of competition that saw a first gold medal for the Brazilian hosts. He also continued a streak of US dominance in the backstroke, which Americans have won in the past six summer Olympics. However the real story is what the Chinese team of Aisen Chen and Yue Lin did receiving a staggering total score of 496.98.
Japan’s “King Kohei” Uchimura led Japan to victory in the men’s team gymnastics, completing his collection of major titles in the sport.
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Chad le Clos made a name for himself when he beat Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly by 0.05 seconds to take gold in London.
