Rio de Janeiro: Inspired by compatriot Mack Horton's win over Sun Yang, Australian Taylor McKeown wants to follow in his footsteps and strike a blow for clean sport by beating controversial Russian Yulia Efimova in Thursday night's 200m breaststroke final.
McKeown, 21, posted a time of 2:21.69 in her semi-final on Wednesday night to become the fastest qualifier for the final. There she will face Efimova, who qualified sixth-fastest for the race. Efimova became a lightning rod for controversy earlier in the week when she won silver in the 100m breaststroke. She has twice tested positive for banned substances, and was slammed by American Lilly King - the woman who edged her for gold.
![Australia's Taylor McKeown competes in a women's 200-metre breaststroke semifinal.](/web/20160817080424im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/q/7/z/s/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqpwlo.png/1470931958619.jpg)
That had followed Horton's win in the 400m freestyle on the first night of competition, which itself generated an international storm after Horton labelled his Chinese rival a drug cheat, opening himself up to a torrent of abuse on social media.
Horton's stance has been defended by the Australian sporting establishment, and McKeown is firmly in her teammate's corner as well. Moreover she didn't shirk the issue when asked about the prospect of racing Efimova.
"I saw her name pop up in the finalists," McKeown said after the semi-finals.
"I've taken a lot of inspiration from Mack Horton's swims this week. I was quite emotional after his win because I knew it was such a big win for clean sport and for Australia.
"I know our country doesn't look too kindly on people in that situation that have been caught, let alone twice. It's going to be a good fight tomorrow night.
"I think [doping is] an issue and I think it's very important that people are aware that a clean sport is a good sport and there's no room for cheats in our sport."
McKeown's comments follow a call from World and American Swimming Coaches Association director John Leonard for leading swimmers to break away from the sport's governing body FINA in a stand against the organisation's flimsy stance against dopers.
"We see admirable courageous stances by athletes from multiple nations in Rio with regard to the immediate and important need to protect our sport," Leonard wrote on the Swimvortex website.
![Taylor McKeown.](/web/20160817080424im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/q/8/0/f/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gqpwlo.png/1470931958619.jpg)
"This comes about because the IOC and its subsidiary international federation puppets such as FINA in our sport, have abdicated their moral responsibility to protect and preserve the sanctity of Olympic ideals and values.
"They have revealed themselves as simply a financial machine generating billions of dollars while sharing pittances with the athletes on whose backs those dollars are generated, and then, they are so arrogant as to ask the athletes to protect their private money generating circus by not protesting the prostitution of clean sport, as FINA and the IOC have done by allowing the dopers to swim."
In any case, McKeown was rapt with her performance on the big stage. "I was really happy with that race. I was more proud of the fact I was able to stay calm and relaxed while in marshalling," she said.
"That race couldn't have gone more perfect. Just outside of my P.B. I backed off a little bit in the last 30 metres, I stretched out my stroke and saved a little bit more, and hopefully it saves a little bit of my luck.
"I certainly didn't expect at my first Olympics to be going in as the fastest seed for the final, which is really exciting, and I think it's going to be a great race tomorrow."
Set for her first Olympic final, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist said she would try to keep her preparation as normal as possible. "I'm just going to treat it like any other race I've done before. I'll treat it the same as an Australian championships or a Queensland championships. I've always been a tough racer. That's come naturally in me so it's just a matter of putting it together tomorrow night and keeping calm and not letting nerves get the better of me."
The women's 200m breaststroke final is at 11.17am AEST Friday.
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