Russia's Yulia Efimova, 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 (AFP Photo/Martin Bureau)
Rio
de Janeiro (AFP) - Tempers frayed at the Rio Olympic swimming
competition 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."
Efimova's
case underlined the confusion caused by the recent doping scandal,
which almost resulted in a blanket ban on Russian athletes in Rio
following allegations of state-sponsored doping.
But swimmers in Rio have been unequivocal in their condemnation of doping offenders.
Veteran American swimmer Dana Vollmer also let rip when asked about Efimova.
"It's
definitely been one of those 'she's allowed, she's not, she's allowed,
she's not' and Lilly and Katie (Meili) both just prepared as if she
would be there," said Vollmer after taking bronze in the women's 100m
fly.
"Everyone likes to assume athletes are clean and ready to compete and all you've got to do is dive in and trust what you've got.
"But I know that question kind of adds fire to a lot of us. Lilly's doing a good job of putting that in her racing."
The
Russian men's 4x100m freestyle relay team were also jeered Sunday after
seven of the country's swimmers were controversially reinstated at the
last minute after first being barred as sports dealt with the fallout of
a damning report on state-sponsored doping in Russia.
Other
countries were not immune from criticism. Chinese giant Sun Yang, who
served a three-month suspension in 2014, was branded a "drugs cheat" by Mack Horton before the Aussie robbed the defending champion of his 400m freestyle title on Saturday.
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