Answering a single question from The Associated Press after posting the second-fastest qualifying time in the 100-meter breaststroke Sunday, the Russian swimmer described the last six months as “crazy” and said she didn’t “understand what’s going on”.
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The 2012 silver medallist finished fourth in his heat, won by China’s world and Olympic champion Sun Yang, but his time of three minutes 45.63 seconds left him 10th overall with only the top eight going through.
Until last week she was set to be prevented from competing here due to an International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule barring convicted Russian doping cheats.
Lilly King, the American swimming medal hope, has become something of a cult hero in her home country after sending a message to her Russian rival Yuliya Efimova.
“We are disappointed that the International Olympic Committee turned a blind eye to the risks Yuliya had to take, and the damage to her athletic career, to expose the systematic cheating in Russia and live up to the ideals expressed in the World Anti-Doping Code”, Stepanova and her husband Vitaly, a former Russian anti-doping official, said in a statement.
King made that clear in a finger-wagging display after her 100-meter breaststroke win over the Russian, who has a history of doping.
“I was insane, like, last half-year, I just don’t understand what’s going on and everything”.
She served a 16-month suspension that spanned from late 2013 to February 2015. She did not speak to reporters after her semifinal swim.
Both improved on their times in the morning heats, when King had shaded the Russian by 0.01 seconds.
“But I know that question kind of adds fire to a lot of us”.
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Efimova edged King in the 100 at the Winter Nationals in December, so the rising sophomore at in has that score to settle, too. “Lilly’s doing a good job of putting that in her racing”. “It would be a really great moment for the U.S”. Then their medal is taken away and re-awarded to another athlete when the world is no longer watching. “That will be heartbreaking for a lot of athletes”.
