Rio 2016: Swimmer Lilly King’s Win Means More Than Gold

If she fails to win, Russian Federation would lose one of its three International Olympic Committee spots, since current representative Alexander Popov’s term ends in Rio. “You know, we can still compete clean and do well at the Olympic games, and that’s how it should be”. “This is best, where I actually do prefer right now after everything”.

But Americans were involved in the doping controversy as well, Tracy reports, and when asked if US track stars Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay, both of whom were previously banned for drug offenses, should be allowed to compete, Lilly King said no. She garnered praise and protests for saying so after her Olympic record-breaking 100-meter breaststroke victory.

King, who swims Wednesday night in the 200m breaststroke semifinal, was caught on camera from the green room Sunday waving her finger at Russian rival Yulia Efimova, who had just won her heat and put up a victorious No. 1 finger. The number climbed after two Russian swimmers and a wrestler won appeals through the IOC’s Center of Arbitration for Sport.

“Amidst the boos from the stadium, Efimova threw up a particularly obnoxious “#1” finger to her haters; in the staging area behind the blocks, however, NBC caught Lilly King watching Efimova’s boasting, wagged her own finger at the TV screen. The bronze went to another American, Katie Meili.

“That’s why I’m so upset that I didn’t manage it, I knew that lots of people were counting on me”. “But that was all I could do right now”.

And this won’t be the end of King and Efimova’s rivalry.

These all-important nuances got drowned in the Olympic pool.

And when she pounded a fist into Efimova’s lane after winning by more than half a second in Olympic record time, she struck a blow for the frustration of clean athletes everywhere in the face of rampant drug abuse to get ahead.

She also congratulated Efimova on a “fantastic swim” as well as expressed her readiness to compete with the Russian swimmer in the future. While the Russian track and field team was banned from the games, most of the country’s other athletes were allowed to attend, including some who have had positive doping tests.

“Athletes used to be outside politics”, Efimova said.

Anyway, what stood out to me during the vilification of Efimova was how much that chick looked like Dee Reynolds of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. She called on them “to swap places with me and understand how I feel”. And like King, Murphy shared his moment with a teammate: bronze victor David Plummer. “They think we do all these bad things, that we are cunning and wicked”, said Tatyana Omelchenko from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. “But I was so exhausted that I told the Hungarians before the race that I could get anything from first place to eighth place”.

Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, who also served a doping suspension, similarly came in for a hefty dose of rebuke. “I’ve been completely without sleep for the last month”.

Le Clos settled for silver in 1:45.20 with American Conor Dwyer third. They can take away medals.

Even on a red, white and blue night at the pool, Missy Franklin endured another stunning disappointment. But the times in the qualifying heats were surprisingly slow.

“I was really just in the moment”, she said. “She is not a criminal and she competed because she was allowed to compete”. IU and Bloomington should be very proud of her.