Doping row rhetoric recalls Cold War

Rio de Janeiro, Cold War rhetoric that dominated the Olympics in the 1970s and 80s resurfaced in Rio after a simmering dispute between Russian and American swimmers boiled over.
Relations between the sporting superpowers have been tense since US calls for the entire Russian team to be banned from Rio following allegations of government-backed doping.
They only worsened after Monday’s women’s 100 metres breaststroke final.
The race pitted American teenagers Lilly King and Katie Meili against Russia’s Yulia Efimova, the reigning world champion, and a symbol of her country’s doping scandal. Initially banned from Rio, the 24-year-old won a last-minute appeal allowing her to compete, prompting protests from the Americans, including King, who said the Russian should have been banned.
In scenes rarely witnessed at an Olympics, Efimova was jeered by the crowd in Rio and after narrowly losing the gold to King on Monday, chants of USA USA echoed around the Olympic Aquatic Stadium.
“I’m actually glad I made a statement and I ended up coming out on top in the race,” King said. “I basically said what everybody else was thinking so they (other swimmers) were glad I spoke out and had the guts to say that.”
King and Meili, who finished third to earn the bronze medal, threw their arms around each other in the pool and again at the medal presentation. King said she never considered congratulating Efimova. “I was really just in the moment,” she said. “If I had been in Yulia’s position, I would not have wanted to be congratulated by someone who said those things about me. But if she was wishing to be congratulated, I apologise to her.”
After the race, Efimova broke down, sobbing uncontrollably as she started to speak to journalists. She composed herself enough to attend the medal winner’s press conference but struggled to hold back tears as she was grilled about doping.