From Zika virus to lackluster accommodations at the Olympic Village, the 2016 Summer Olympics are proving to be one of the most controversial events of the year yet. Only the most recent complaints have nothing to do with Brazil, but instead, choose to tackle another relevant issue — doping scandals.
For the uninformed, the Russian Federation has recently come under fire for their allowance of a state-sponsored doping program during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. While the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) has cracked down on the nation and banned many of their athletes, including the entire track and field team as well as the entire Russian Paralympics team, a select few have slipped through the cracks to compete in Rio.
One of these athletes is 24-year-old Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova. Although Efimova has previously been suspended from the sport for 16 months due to the use of a banned substance and recently failed another drug test, she was quietly allowed entry into the Olympics only hours before her event.
In addition to the consistent booing that arises every time Efimova enters the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, U.S. swimmer Lilly King has openly expressed her dislike of Efimova’s attendance as well. The rivalry reared its ugly head during the semifinals when Efimova won her heat and wagged her finger as if to say she was the number one competitor. King, watching the race from a TV, mocked her finger wagging in a state of disdain for her fellow athlete. King then went on to win first place in the second semifinal, thus ensuring that the two competitors to face off in the next match.
King has openly vocalized her feelings about Efimova, saying in an interview with NBC, “You wave your finger number one, and you’ve been caught drug cheating? I’m not a fan.”
King’s dismissal of Efimova was certainly backed up on Aug. 8, when the two finally faced off in the pool. King beat Efimova in the 100-meter race by almost one second, breaking the previous Olympic record winning a gold medal and condemning the Russian swimmer and other “drug cheaters.”
The U.S. gold medalist isn’t the only one to express dissent over the allowance of cheating athletes into this year’s Olympics, either. Australian freestyler Mack Horton has also spoken out against his fellow Chinese competitor, Sun Yang, who previously served a 3-month suspension in 2014 for the use of a banned substance. Much like King, Horton also proved that clean athletes do it best by out-touching Sun for the gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle. Aside from Horton and King, even Michael Phelps has stated during a news conference, “I think I can honestly say in my career I don’t know if I’ve ever competed in a clean sport.”
While the WADA has clearly made some errors in allowing previously banned athletes to compete in the 2016 Olympics, more and more athletes like King, Horton and Phelps have been opening up and speaking out against the injustice of competing with drug cheaters. Their open disapproval has received some criticism with dissenters saying that they are failing to honor the good sportsmanship code of the Olympics. However, wouldn’t that code already have been dishonored by the drug cheating athletes that were allowed to compete for the privilege of winning an Olympic medal in the first place? In such a historic event like the Olympics, only those athletes who have honor and integrity are worthy of competing.
While the doping issue has certainly yet to be resolved, athletes like King and Horton have made their stances clear, and, if anything, their actions have only delivered their message further: there’s no room for drug cheaters to get the gold.
