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USA's Lilly King doesn't regret calling out Yulia Efimova, Russian doping

Lilly King, the 19-year-old American breaststroker who called out twice-banned Russian rival Yulia Efimova and then defeated her for the gold medal earlier this week, ended her Olympic Games on Saturday night with another gold medal and more bold words.

<p><span class="cutline js-caption" style="display: block; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902);">Lilly King (USA) with her gold medal after the women's 4x100 medley relay final in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games.</span><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.74902);">(Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports)</span></p>

Lilly King, the 19-year-old American breaststroker who called out twice-banned Russian rival Yulia Efimova and then defeated her for the gold medal earlier this week, ended her Olympic Games on Saturday night with another gold medal and more bold words.

“I’m glad I did it,” King said of speaking out against Russia’s state-sponsored doping machine after helping to lead the United States to victory in the women’s 4x100-meter medley relay, which happened to be the nation’s historic 1,000th Olympic gold medal.

“It was something that needed to be brought up, in my mind. I wasn’t even planning on speaking out. It just kind of happened. But I’m glad I did, because it is something that needs to be noticed, and it’s something that needs to be dealt with, and I just happened to be the person that decided to come out, so I’m super glad I did it.”

King swam the second leg of the medley relay, the breaststroke, bringing the USA from fourth place to second. From there, her teammates poured it on, winning the gold medal with a time of 3 minutes, 53.13 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of second-place Australia.

Efimova’s Russian team finished sixth, more than two-and-a-half seconds behind the Americans. But Efimova herself actually beat King by nearly three-quarters of a second head to head in their leg of the relay.

“I knew I should swim faster, because it gives my other teammates more time,” Efimova told USA TODAY Sports. “Second, I want to beat Lilly King.”

King wasn’t too concerned about the comparison.

“I think personally for me I could have gone a little faster,” she said, “but any time you win gold, especially on a relay, especially with three other amazing women, it’s such an honor. … Sometimes you get a little excited for relays and go out a little faster than you probably should. We still came out on top, and that’s all I can ask for.”

King won the 100-meter breaststroke Monday night by more than half a second over Efimova.

“It’s incredible, just winning a gold medal, and knowing I did it clean,” she said after the race.

The previous night, after Efimova and King engaged in a finger-wagging battle, King did not back down.

“You know, you’re shaking your finger No. 1 and you’ve been caught for drug cheating,” King said of Efimova to NBC. “I’m just not, you know, not a fan.”

Saturday night, when it was all over, King looked back on her week.

“There were lots of ups and downs this week,” she said. “It was such an incredible race in the 100, with it all hyped up, it was pretty crazy. Then there was the 200, and I was a little bit disappointed with that (she failed to qualify for the final).”

How did she think people would remember her based on this week?

“I hope they look at me as someone they can look up to when they feel like they need to speak out against something that they feel is wrong,” King replied.

Then she smiled.

“I’m sure this is going to get brought up every four years. I just hope they can look to me when they’re feeling in doubt if they need to speak out against something they feel is unjust. I’m glad to be that person.”

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