The meeting was highly anticipated, and it didn’t disappoint – particularly from Lilly King’s point of view.
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On Sunday, King had some strong words for her Russian rival in the 100-meter breaststroke, Yuliya Efimova, noting that she wasn’t a fan of swimmers who cheat and also mocking her with a Dikembe Mutombo-like finger wag.
“We had a team meeting today, and she said, hey girls, I just want you all to know that they film you in the ready room”, Ray Looze said. “We can still compete clean and do well at the Olympic Games, and that’s how it should be”.
But the real BOOM of the night came from 19-year-old Lilly King, who is now seated first in the 100 breaststroke, after her absurdly fast semi-final swim.
The Russian said had wanted to win gold to prove her critics wrong.
In the end, Efimova ended up with silver and King’s teammate, Katie Meili, won the bronze.
She then told NBC’s Michele Tafoya that she didn’t appreciate the gesture from Yefimova, who once served a 16-month ban for testing positive for a banned substance.
When asked to comment on her rivalry with Lilly King, she wisely refused to comment, stating only: “I am sad that I could not win a gold for Russian Federation, but I am happy to have won silver”.
King made her move after 50 meters while Efimova made her move approximately 25 meters to go which was not enough to catch and beat King. The second time it was not my mistake.
“That’s just my personality”, she said. “It’s not my decision, it’s the IOC’s decision”, King said, “even though its not something I agree with”.
“I’m happy to be here, and for me it’s very hard”, she said. “I just tried to be myself”.
After winning her Olympic silver, Efimova hit back at her critics, saying that all athletes should be above politics.
“I am just happy to be here. It kind of breaks what sport is meant to be and that’s what pisses me off”.
“I tried not to get distracted by outside noise”, Sun said.
The gold medal hanging around her neck Monday night was evidence enough of that.
For good measure, David Plummer – a 30-year-old Olympic rookie – claimed the bronze.
And members of Team USA were not holding back about there being known dopers in the pool.
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Murphy won in 51.97 seconds, setting a new Olympic standard and updating a mark set by Matt Grevers at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. He also continued a streak of USA dominance in the backstroke, which Americans have won in the past six summer Olympics.
