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The Indiana Daily Student

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Lilly King backs up her stance against doping

Freshman Lilly King practices breastroke Dec. 7, 2015 at the Counsilman-Bilingsley Aquatic Center.

Lilly King said something.

That’s what IU Coach and USA Swimming Assistant Coach Ray Looze was told after his sophomore swimmer qualified for the 100-meter breaststroke final Aug. 6 in Rio de Janeiro.

He wasn’t there to hear the interview with NBC’s Michelle Tafoya. He wasn’t there to see King wag her finger at Russia’s Yulia Efimova as the defending world champion raised her finger to signify her first-place standing. He was at the cool-down pool with other swimmers.

He didn’t hear King express her opinions on a swimmer who had been caught “drug cheating” twice before.

She said she was “not a fan,” and the media met Looze before he could speak with his swimmer about what 
occurred.

“They asked me straight up right there,” Looze said. “They said, ‘Lilly made some comments about doping and how she’s not a fan.’ I figured it out at that point and just decided to support it.”

That’s not only what the USA Swimming athletes and coaches have done for the 19 year old, but what her collegiate teammates and coaches have done as well.

As arguably the most anticipated race of the 2016 Olympic Games, the 100-meter breastroke final evolved into a clean-versus-performance-enhancing-drugs battle between King and Efimova before the Hoosier swimmer even realized it.

King said while she performs better with added pressure and more eyes on her, she never realized her comments would draw the attention her race received. She didn’t think her comments were that bad.

Regardless, King went on to finish the race more than half a second faster than Efimova. It was her first gold medal, and she would earn a second later in the 400-meter medley relay.

With her gold, she became the poster child for a campaign against PEDs in swimming and diving, something she said she will continue to speak out against when necessary.

“If I’m going to be a poster child for anything, I think that’s a good thing,” King said. “I guess I’m the poster child for playing it fair and not cheating, which is sad that there has to be a poster child for that.”

King’s Olympic teammate Cody Miller, an IU swimming alumnus and gold medalist in the 400-meter medley relay with decorated Olympian Michael Phelps, has been one of King’s biggest advocates throughout the month of August.

Miller said one of his most emotional moments during the games was standing next to Looze and watching King step onto the first-place podium after she defeated Efimova. The former Hoosier said he couldn’t believe how well she handled the 
pressure.

As for the post-race interview with NBC, Miller also showed support for his Olympic teammate.

“She was saying what everyone else was thinking,” Miller said. “We’re not hiding it. We’re not going to shy away from it.”

Miller made that clear in his own interview after King made her anti-doping 
comments.

When asked about Australian swimmer Mack Horton, who spoke out against Chinese opponent Sun Yang’s use of PEDs, Miller was open about his opinion.

“They asked me about it, and I was just like, ‘Mack Horton is a boss’,” Miller said. “And I was just like, ‘If I had a microphone I would drop it.’ The next morning, I woke up and had hundreds and hundreds of angry tweets from Chinese people. It’s cool. We all know what’s going 
on here.”

King’s comments were received no differently by the Russian fan base. The sophomore said she tries to post on social media but is 
constantly receiving backlash from Russians.

“Half the time I can’t read it because it’s in Russian, and I obviously do not speak Russian,” King said. “But it is a little frustrating at times when I post a picture of me and one of my best friends on Instagram, and they’re saying you don’t deserve your gold medal. I just know that I’m right on every single thing that I said, so it really doesn’t bug me too much.”

Looze said her age and the amount of distractions already in an Olympic race, plus the distractions brought on by her comments, are what makes her victory so impressive and magnifies her message.

The coach said she’s a gunslinger and that her “God-given confidence” is just who she is as a person and as a swimmer. That’s what will drive her to continue to speak out against PEDs and improve as a swimmer.

Miller also said he will continue to speak out against PEDs and is taking his approach for the 2020 Games in Tokyo one year at a time.

Until then, he will keep showing support for his teammate.

“There are people who are missing out on Olympic finals because of people who don’t deserve to be there,” Miller said. “Lilly just showed them that you can do it the right way. We love her.”

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