American swimmer complains about doping after losing to Russians

TOKYO — After losing to Russian swimmers in two races at the Olympics, American backstroke star Ryan Murphy said Friday that doping remains a huge problem in the sport and he wonders if all his competitors are clean.

Seeming to take aim at a country that has repeatedly run afoul of doping rules, Murphy revealed his frustration after taking the silver medal behind Evgeny Rylov in the 200-meter backstroke.

That came three days after Murphy — who swept the backstroke events at the 2016 Rio Games — settled for a bronze in the 100 back.

But later, at a news conference with fellow medalists Rylov and third-place finisher Luke Greenbank of Britain, Murphy said he was not accusing the Russian of doping.

“Ryan has all the right to think the way he does and say what he does,” Rylov said.

The country was forced to send depleted squads to the last two Olympics, and those that did compete at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games were referred to as OAR — Olympic Athletes From Russia.

Most Russian athletes were allowed to compete at Tokyo, even though they officially represent the Russian Olympic Committee — not their country

Two Russian swimmers, Alexandr Kudashev and Veronika Andrusenko, were initially banned from competing in Tokyo by world governing body FINA because of evidence gathered from the Moscow lab

His country's swimmers were involved in a massing doping scandal in the 1990s, and China's best-known swimmer, Sun Yang, was banned from the Tokyo Games because of a doping violation

Asked if the penalties against the Russians were sufficient, Murphy said, “When I’m asked a question like that, I’ve got like 15 different thoughts — and 13 of them would get me into a lot of trouble.”