Olympic champion Lilly King reveals she 'lost confidence' in clean sports after the latest Chinese doping scandal

American competitive swimmer Lilly King recently spoke about how she has lost her confidence in clean sports after the latest doping scandal incident involving Chinese swimmers. In early 2021, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) listed prohibited-substance trimetazidine in their samples.

However, after receiving a notification from the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency, the WADA cleared the Chinese swimmers for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics after reviewing the case through their science department, which found the explanation to be believable as the organization didn't find any strong evidence to prove against it.

In a telephonic conversation with the New York Times, the two-time Olympic champion shared her emotions after the Chinese doping scandal was uncovered. She stated:

“I am not confident when I get up on the blocks that the people to my right and my left are clean. And that’s really unfortunate, because that’s not something I should have to focus on while racing at the Olympics.”

Lilly King isn’t the only athlete who has commented about the recent Chinese doping scandal. Olympic gold medalists Adam Peaty, James Guy, Kathleen Baker, and former swimmer and swimming coach Greg Meehan also spoke about the incident on social media.

The Chinese anti-doping organization had earlier stated that the test results of the swimmers came back positive as the banned substance was present in the spice containers of the kitchen of the hotel where they stayed.

As a result, the Chinese swimmers were allowed to compete in the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021. China won 6 medals, including 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medal, and finished fourth in the overall table in swimming at the 2020 Summer Games.

---

A look into Lilly King's achievements

Lilly King celebrates her gold medal and a new World Record of 29.40 in the Women's 50m Breaststroke Final at the Budapest 2017 FINA World Championships on July 30, 2017. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Lilly King is renowned for being a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the women's 100m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay events, both of which she achieved during the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She added three more medals to her impressive Olympics tally at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where she won two silver medals in the 200m breaststroke and 4x100m medley relay events and a bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke event.

In addition to her Olympic medals, Lilly King boasts 11 World Championships (Long Course) gold medals. This includes two golds in the 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke, and one gold in the 200m breaststroke across individual events.