King Beats Efimova, Murphy Wins Gold, Four Other Americans Medal

Conor Dwyer won a bronze for the U.S.

Lilly King made her point.

The American beat Yulia Efimova on Monday in the 100-meter breaststroke — and set an Olympic record, too — a night after she called out the Russian for wagging her finger in the semifinals. 

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

On Monday, she let her swimming do all the talking. When it was all over, she ignored Efimova in favor of a splashy celebration. Then she swam over to hug teammate Katie Meili, who won bronze.

Asked if she thought the win made a statement, King said: "I hope I did — that we can still compete clean. … That's how it should be."

Efimova was .57 seconds behind King, who finished in 1 minute, 4.93 seconds. 

"I really don't know how I even reached the final ... it would have really been the end of a fairytale, a horrible dream, if I'd won gold," Efimova said to The Associated Press after the race, her face red from crying. "But that was all I could do right now."

King, a 19-year-old student at Indiana University, is in her first Olympics.

"It just proves you can compete clean and still come out on top with all the hard work you put in behind the scenes, behind the meet, at practice and weight sessions," King told the AP. "There is a way to become the best and do it the right way."

Before King and Efimova faced off, Ryan Murphy set an Olympic record and won the United States' third swimming gold medal in Rio by taking the 100-meter backstroke on Monday night in 51.97 seconds. 

Xu Jiayu of China was silver and David Plummer beat out Australia's Mitchell Larkin for bronze by .03 seconds.

Minutes earlier, Kathleen Baker won a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke shortly after Conor Dwyer won a bronze for the United States in the 200 freestyle, adding to the USA's swimming medal haul on a night its biggest stars were in semifinals.

Beating out Baker by .30 seconds in 58.45 was Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who won her second gold medal of the Olympics. Fu Yuanhui and Kylie Mass of Canada tied for bronze.

Dwyer finished behind Chad le Clos of South Africa, and 2012 silver medalist Sun Yang of China, who outsprinted le Clos in the final 50 meters to win gold in 1:44.65.

Katie Ledecky, who crushed her own world record in the 400 freestyle Sunday night, easily advanced to Tuesday night's 200-meter freestyle, coming in second to Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom.

Missy Franklin, who won four gold medals in London four years ago, finished eighth in her semifinal and missed on the final.

Maya DiRado qualified for the finals in the 200 individual medley, along with teammate Melanie Margalis.

Michael Phelps also advanced, to the 200-meter butterfly final, setting up a shot at his 20th Olympic gold medal on Tuesday night. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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