At its best, the spirit of the Games transcends borders and politics, but it seems no one bothered to tell King. The gold medal hanging around her neck Monday night was evidence enough of that. “No, they shouldn’t”, King said when asked about Gatlin on Monday after winning gold in the 100-meter breaststroke.
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The crowd booed as Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova took her place to swim in her Olympic debut in Rio’s Aquatic Center on Sunday. “I’ve been completely without sleep for the last month”.
“I’m actually glad I made a statement and I ended up coming out on top in the race”, King said.
While King and Miele celebrated joyously together in the water, Efimova – who is also entered in the 200m breaststroke in Rio – hung on her lane rope before departing the pool deck. The take away should be that King won on her own merit. “I was just in the moment with Katie”.
The gold in 100-meter in Rio was her first global medal.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to see that, and it is such a toss-up between sports and between countries”, King said.
“You want to be able to compete on an even playing field”, Phelps said. This time, she struggled just to qualify for two individual events and it looks like her only realistic shot at a medal will be on the 4×200 free relay.
“I really don’t know how I even reached the final”, Efimova said, her face red from crying.
King didn’t think that was right.
King’s victory highlighted another big night for the Americans, who also extended their domination in the men’s 100 backstroke with Ryan Murphy’s victory and wound up with six medals in all.
That was the sentiment American swimming star Michael Phelps expressed this week.
“But for the most part all the support has been very positive and I’m really thankful for that”.
“I think the Anglo-Saxons have hated Russian Federation for many centuries and that’s normal, that’s OK”, said Roman Taplin, referring primarily to the English and Americans. According to a WADA-commissioned a report released in July, all positive drug tests of Russian athletes were sent to the minister of sport and he personally decided whose violations to cover up and whose to expose, allowing some dirty athletes to continue competing. “So that’s kind of where I was at”.
Both Horton and King have been challenged on the militancy of their attacks on Sun and Efimova. Efimova was second in 1:05.50, 0.19 seconds ahead of King’s US teammate Katie Meili. “But if she was wishing to be congratulated, I apologize to her”.
If the International Olympic Committee hadn’t bowed down to the Russians to begin with last month, there would have been no such drama.
Efimova arrived in Rio as one of the symbols of the massive Russian doping operation, an athlete who had already served a 16-month suspension and tested positive again this year for the now-banned substance meldonium.
But King was joined in the war of words by USA legend Phelps and Frenchman Camille Lacourt among others who lashed out at a Chinese victor.
You’re not supposed to go to the little club near home, the Newburgh Sea Creatures, just a couple of hours down the road from us, in Newburgh, Indiana. “There should not be any bouncing back and forth”. “Let’s let our actions speak louder than our words.’ But they’re adults, and they have opinions”.
Wallechinsky said the allegations against the Russians were so extreme that “if you’re an athlete and you see this going on, it’s going to be frustrating for you if you’re not taking drugs, if you’re clean”.
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And that’s something to wag a finger about.
