The sound of booing at an Olympic event used to be rare—almost unheard of.
But this year, Russian athletes became the instant villains of the games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cleared the way for most of the team to compete, despite the world anti-doping body’s recommendation that they be banned in the wake of a major state-sponsored doping scandal.
Poolside, the men’s 4x100 relay team was jeered loudly as it readied for the final. Swimmer Yulia Efimova was booed as she lined up against America’s Lilly King for the breaststroke showdown. Efimova had been cleared to swim after coming off a 16-month ban for steroid use (which was overturned) and then testing positive for the banned drug meldonium earlier this year.
