Efimova was initially banned from the Olympics, but that decision was overturned on appeal.
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Efimova had served a 16-month suspension for doping and then tested positive this year for newly banned meldonium.
A United States reporter asked: “You’ve been very outspoken about Yuliya and her doping conviction and whether she should be here”. Instead, King seized the chance to take a final verbal dig at Efimova.
King was the Hoosier-next-door heroine, unafraid to call out the dirty athletes who destroy the wonder and drama of sports.
Against a background that recalled the Cold War tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union and East Germany in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, King wasn’t alone in viewing her win over Russia’s Yulia Efimova at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium as redefining the term moral victory.
The American’s open disdain for Russian rival Yulia Efimova might have come across as un-Olympic, but her finger wag, stare down and relentless antagonizing couldn’t be more in line with the spirit of the games.
King and Meili, who finished third to earn the bronze medal, threw their arms around each other in the pool and again at the medal presentation.
“You know, you’re shaking your finger number one and you’ve been caught for drug cheating”, said King in an NBC interview after the semifinals. “I think it just breaks what sport is meant to be and that really annoys me”.
Sunday night, Efimova answered just one question and asked walked away. I’m not this sweet little girl, that’s not who I am.
That set up a showdown on Monday night. King took the clean route, and she was enraged to see a fraud swimming beside her.
Efimova, who heard a round of boos and a few cheers during the introductions, settled for the silver in 1:05.50.
Tellingly, however, there was no obvious handshake or congratulation between King and Efimova, either after the race or during the medals presentation.
She had previously been banned for using steroids.
“You know, we have some tough young kids in our team and I think that’s something special”, Phelps said.
Australian freestyler Mack Horton also was mad and he decided he was not going to take it anymore.
Sun, silver medallist at London 2012, has earlier been at the centre of what nearly turned into a diplomatic incident after Chinese officials furiously called for to Australia to apologise after Mack Horton referred to him as a cheat following his 400m freestyle victory.
After winning the men’s 200m freestyle title, the Chinese hero, who was banned for three months in 2014, came under attack from French swimmer Camille Lacourt.
“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”. He did not acknowledge him in the water, though they shook hands during the medal ceremony.
“Do I think people who have been caught for doping offences should be on the team?”
“I’d like to give the swimmer the benefit of the doubt that she had tested positive and served her ban and hopefully that scared her enough to be clean”, Coventry said. “I felt that I needed to perform better here tonight than I have in the past, so that’s kind of where I was at”.
A smattering of boos greeted Efimova after she won her preliminary heat Sunday.
King had made it clear that Efimova, a two-time drug offender, didn’t belong here. The Olympic caretakers had the chance to make this a Russia-free games, but couldn’t muster as much courage as a 19-year-old from Indiana.
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IU swimmer Cody Miller also earned himself a bronze medal Sunday with a time of 58.87 in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke event. The most inspiring performance of the night was by Kathleen Baker, who captured the silver medal behind Hosszu, having overcome Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease.
