Summary "For the most part all the support has been very positive and I'm really thankful for that."
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - American Lilly King on Wednesday refused to back down over slamming the decision to allow drug-tainted swimmers to compete at the Rio Olympics.
Earlier this week, King refused to shake hands with Russian Yulia Efimova after being presented with her gold for winning the 100m breaststroke. She savaged the two-time doping offender after the race.
Efimova, the reigning world champion, was cleared to compete in Rio after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled athletes cannot be banned on the basis that they have been previously sanctioned.
King admitted she had faced criticism of her stance after Efimova s case was decided in a tribunal but insisted most of the feedback she received has been positive.
"I obviously have gotten some negative backlash, which I expected," she told reporters after the 200m breaststroke heats.
"But for the most part all the support has been very positive and I m really thankful for that.
"My parents raised me to say what I wanted to say, even if it wasn t what people wanted to hear necessarily and I m going to stick with my guns."
The 100m clash was laced with hostility, Efimova wagging her finger to signal she was "number one" after her semi-final, to which King mockingly copied the gesture before beating her rival s time and calling her a "drug cheat."
Booed before the race, Efimova broke down in tears after winning silver and King tore her to shreds in the post-race press conference.
"I have so many followers on social media now, it s really weird," said King, who has over 23,000 followers on Twitter.
"Reggie Miller, Indiana Pacers, followed me yesterday -- that was a pretty big deal for me," added the Indiana-born swimmer, referring to the former NBA basketball great.
"For the most part all the support has been very positive and I m really thankful for that."
It didn t help her in the pool however, as she failed to qualify for the final of the 200m breaststroke.
Efimova, who again heard jeers as she took the blocks for the semi-finals, shook it off to secure her finals berth with the sixth-fastest time, 83-hundredths of a second behind top qualifier Taylor McKeown of Australia.
Efimova, who was banned for 16 months three years ago after testing positive for the steroid DHEA, has looked like a frightened rabbit walking through the bear pit of the media mixed zone after races, refusing to answer questions.
But after the 100m race, the teary-eyed Russian said: "It s very upsetting when politics interfere with sport. I once made a mistake and served my ban. I thought the cold war was over long ago."
