Michael Phelps has long been heralded for bringing attention to the sport of swimming. Ryan Lochte, Katie Ledecky, and Missy Franklin have also, for various reasons, made a name for the sport. Lochte might be known for his antics outside of the pool, Ledecky for the heights that she is taking swimming on the women’s side.
Lilly King is at her first Olympics, and she is making non-swimmers pay attention with dominance in the pool and her fearlessness on the pool deck.
After her finger wagging to Russian Yulia Efimova last night during semifinals, King backed up her version of trash talk and threw down a huge swim in the final to win gold and defeat Efimova. Plus, she popped a ridiculously quick 1:04.93– we haven’t seen a 1:04 since 2013, and King now cements herself as the fourth female swimmer to ever break the 1:05 barrier.
Check out some of the tweets about the historical 100 breast final below:
https://twitter.com/WillLicon/status/762833192390918144
https://twitter.com/EveandCandace/status/762833536655167489
https://twitter.com/karalynnjoyce/status/762832838261473280
https://twitter.com/JoshPrenot/status/762831264349097984
Even the great Samuel L. Jackson had something to say (WARNING: some minor profanity below) about King’s swim:
https://twitter.com/SamuelLJackson/status/762831682093191168
Check out some of today’s other great tweets below:
https://twitter.com/adam_peaty/status/762720555388792832
https://twitter.com/michael_ctaylor/status/762826830554492928
https://twitter.com/Lesdoggg/status/762826852167741440
https://twitter.com/Lesdoggg/status/762698537318645760
ought curtail word play and abstain from actual contest instead, if oppositions state factually unfair…totally misguided
Come on America! You’re better than this ????
Long Live Lilly King!
Gold: https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/762832893739622401
Sam Jackson getting so animated for these Olympics! Great to see
https://twitter.com/svengradna/status/762831264349097984
Hahahha. Added that in.