As Lilly King competes in her third and final Olympic Games, she has a chance to make history.
King has no doubts that this will be her last Games, saying in June that she feels content with what she’s accomplished in swimming. But in this last go-around in Paris, she could join some exclusive clubs.
She races in the 100-meter breaststroke final on Monday, and she could become the second swimmer and the first American to win three Olympic medals in the event. She’s already one of just six swimmers to win two Olympic medals in the event. If King can medal in both the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke, she’d become only the fourth swimmer to ever win multiple Olympic medals in both breaststroke events.
“She’s one of the greatest female breaststrokers the U.S. and the world has ever seen, in terms of accomplishment, but also longevity,” IU head swimming coach Ray Looze said. “Breaststroke for women can be a very fleeting thing. It’s a boom-bust type thing, for the most part.”
The Evansville native earned a gold medal in the 100 — as well as in the 4×100-meter medley relay — in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, during the summer in between her freshman and sophomore year at IU. King made a name for herself in the Rio Games through her heated rivalry with Russian Yulia Efimova, who competed after serving an extended doping suspension; King memorably wagged her finger at Efimova during the semifinals.
King took home a bronze medal in the 100 in the 2020 Tokyo Games, and she added silver medals in the 200-meter breaststroke and the 4×100 medley relay.
She may not have a rival in Paris that draws the same amount of ire as Efimova, but her pure competitiveness still provides plenty of motivation.
“I just don’t want to lose. It’s really not that deep,” King said. “I just show up, and I don’t want the person next to me to beat me. And that’s about all it is.”
King’s résumé — with her success at IU, in the Olympics, and at World Championships — make her one of the most accomplished IU athletes in the 21st century, in any sport.
Her IU career, from 2015 through 2019, was dominant. She won NCAA titles in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke in each of her four years in Bloomington. She was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year three times, and won a National Swimmer of the Year award as a freshman. King set American, NCAA, and Big Ten records in the 100 at the NCAA Championships as a junior in 2018.
She set a world record in the 100 at the World Aquatics Championships in 2017, a mark she still holds. She also set a world record in the 50-meter breaststroke at the same event, and that still stands as the American record. Additionally, King holds American records in short course 50 and 100.
King, in 2016, helped get IU swimming back on the podium for the United States for the first time since 1976 — other Hoosiers swimmers won Olympic medals for other countries after that, but IU went 40 years without a U.S. Olympic swimming medal.
Few other Hoosiers can compete with the amount of greatness she displayed both in college and on the international stage.
“Lilly’s transformed us, no question,” Looze said. “She’s made us a popular brand in collegiate swimming and worldwide swimming.”
But King’s legacy expands beyond numbers and medals. She’s inspired young swimmers across the state of Indiana to want to emulate her. Crowds at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis this year went crazy for King, and she relished those moments — not only for the love she received, but also for the way it displayed the growth of the sport in Indiana.
She’s also served as a role model for IU swimmers who came after her, even after she completed her college career. King continued training and working in Bloomington after she graduated, so she’s remained around IU’s program. And current Indiana swimmers that aspired for Olympic success could utilize King as a resource, to figure out what they can do better and what it takes to succeed at the highest level.
Looze described her as an older sister to junior Josh Matheny, who’s now competing in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke in Paris. During the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, King and junior Anna Peplowski helped distract each other on their race days to keep their minds clear.
It’s been meaningful for King to help the next generation of IU swimmers.
“It’s been really cool this time around, having some first-timers that are younger than myself. So it was really important to me to kind of get those guys through a little bit. Not that they didn’t do that themselves, obviously,” King said. “As much as I help them, they help me out, too.”
But perhaps one of the strongest facets of King’s legacy is the competitiveness that’s driven her for so long.
The finger wag will live on in Olympic lore, as a stand for right against wrong. But it’s the mentality that led to that moment that defines King. She’s wanted to be the best at what she does, and used that desire to not only achieve that distinction, but sustain the greatness for an extended period.
Fellow gold medalist Blake Pieroni trained and competed with King for so much of her career. He’s witnessed her success and the work it took to make it happen. And the biggest things that stood out to him about King were her work ethic and her persistent effort, regardless of any circumstances.
“I think Lilly will be remembered more than anything as just a racer. It doesn’t matter what the meet is, it doesn’t matter how she feels, or what the times are, or who’s going, what the event is. She’s going to put 100 percent maximum effort into that,” Pieroni said. “And I think that is a really good thing for younger kids — freshmen and sophomores in college — to realize, because you’re tired all the time in college, and people are like, ‘I didn’t swim good because I don’t feel good.’ And really, it doesn’t matter. Like, we don’t care. It’s all just excuses. And I think Lilly will be remembered for racing every time, no matter how you feel or what the meet is or what the occasion is, which I think is a really great thing.”
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