Tempers frayed at the Rio Olympic swimming competition Sunday as athletes tore into two-time doping offender Yulia Efimova after she won her breaststroke semi-final.
The Russian, who was cleared to compete in Rio after a convoluted drugs case, triggered a chorus of boos when she was introduced and after the race as rival swimmers made their feelings known in no uncertain terms.
Defending Olympic breaststroke champion Ruta Meilutyte pulled no punches.
“It’s never nice,” said the Lithuanian of competing against a swimmer who has twice tested positive — the second time for meldonium, which officials ruled she could have taken before it was banned in January.
“I guess the whole point behind competition is we swimmers around the world, we train the hardest every day to be able to perform well and represent our countries and we train fair.
“And when something like that happens it’s never nice and it’s a little bit disrespectful,” she added. “These are not the values of our sport.”
American gold medal contender Lilly King echoed those sentiments.
“I’m up for the challenge and if that’s what she feels she needs to do to be able to compete then you know, whatever, that’s her deal,” she sniffed.
“I’m here to compete clean and that’s what I’m going to do,” added King, admitting that beating Efimova would be extra special given the Russian’s murky past.
“Oh yeah, it would be a great story. Obviously, just with all the doping and things going on the past year or two, I think it would be a really great moment for us.”
