Dope row whips up storm in pool
US swimmer King criticises tainted Russia rival Efimova after beating her to 100m breaststroke gold
RIO DE JANEIRO: Doping tensions in Olympic swimming erupted after American Lilly King beat tainted Russian rival Yulia Efimova.
Booing broke out in the swimming arena on Monday as Efimova — twice convicted of doping but securing an Olympic place on a last-ditch appeal — lined up to challenge the women’s 100m breaststroke final.
King narrowly beat her then slammed her, stoking the controversy over revelations of Russian stated-sponsored doping.
“I think it just proved that you can compete clean and still come out on top,” King said of her win. She had also criticised Efimova before the race.
In a post-race interview with NBC, King said, “You wave your finger No. 1 and you’ve been caught drug cheating?”
Clearly devastated, Efimova burst into tears after the race.
Russia sprang to her defenxe, with Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko describing her as a “good girl”, according Moscow’s R-Sport news agency. The attacks were described as a “terrible ordeal.”
The red-faced International Olympic Committee (IOC) sought to calm the choppy waters, saying the Games were about “respecting the right of others to compete.” EFIMOVA DEFENDS SELF Efimova sought to defend her doping record. “I once made a mistake and served my ban,” she said, referring to a 16-month suspension incurred after testing positive for a banned steroid in 2014.
She was given a provisional ban this year after testing positive for meldonium but that was overturned in May by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Following the Richard McLaren report for the World Anti-Doping Agency, Efimova was suspended again. The report implicated the Russian government in doping. But another appeal to the CAS last week let Efimova and six other Russian swimmers into Rio.
The United States and other western countries had wanted a complete ban on Russian athletes.
Backstroker Kirsty Coventry, a seven-time Olympic medalist from Zimbabwe and a member of the IOC athletes’ commission, said, “I think I’m kind of a little conflicted.”
In the 100 backstroke Sunday, Coventry swam in the same heat as Russia’s Daria Ustinova, who served a doping ban and, like Efimova, won her appeal to be allowed to compete in the games.
“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. “That’s kind of the best situation.”