A new 'cold war' doping row broke out at the Tokyo Olympics pool as a US swimmer said his 200m backstroke final was 'probably not clean' after losing his title to the Russian Olympic Committee contender.
After losing the second of his 2016 Rio Olympic backstroke titles to Russian Evgeny Rylov, 24, on Friday, an unhappy Ryan Murphy, 26, hinted doping had played a part in his demise.
Team GB bronze medal winner Luke Greenbank, 23, also questioned whether he was racing against 'clean' swimmers in the 200 metres backstroke after winning bronze behind Russian Mr Rylov.
Mr Rylov clocked 1min 53.27sec to touch out Murphy by just 0.88sec, with Greenbank finishing in a time of 1:54.72 in a repeat of the result at the World Championships in 2019.
The Russian athlete insisted he has 'always been for clean competition', saying he is 'always tested'.
Mr Murphy had later walked back his comments saying they were not directed specifically at his Russian rivals but at the sport which he said still has a big doping problem.
But the Russian Olympic Committee hit back on Twitter, labelling American complaints as nothing more than sour grapes.
Gold medalist Evgeny Rylov (R) of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), silver medalist Ryan Murphy of the United States pose after the men's 200m backstroke final of swimming at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
The Russian Olympic Committee is currently ranked fifth overall at the Tokyo Games, with 11 gold medals, 15 silver and 12 bronze
Greenbank, who came third in the 200m backstroke, said it was 'frustrating' not knowing whether a fellow athlete had doped
This prompted a fiery response from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) chief Travis Tygart, who came to the defence of American swimmer Mr Murphy for suggesting some of his rivals were drug cheats.
'The Russian state and sport officials put the dark cloud over themselves and in the process, tragically, pushed their athletes out in the storm,' Mr Tygart wrote in an email.
Russia is competing in Tokyo as representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) because the country was stripped of its flag and anthem for doping offences, a punishment that Tygart has decried as a joke.
Mr Tygart continued in his email: 'Now these officials want to continue to lie, deny and attack those with the courage to stand up to their deceit and blatant disregard for the rules and the truth.
'That's fine because we all know if you cheat, you have no problem lying about your cheating.'
Team GB's Luke Greenbank had admitted it was 'frustrating' that the Russian Olympic Committee were competing at Tokyo 2020 despite the country being banned over their state-sponsored doping programme.
Silver medalist Mr Murphy was first to raise concerns about the event having finished behind Rylov, who completed a 100m and 200m backstroke double with an Olympic record.
But asked if he agreed with Murphy's comments, Team GB's Greenbank replied: 'It's obviously a very difficult situation not knowing whether who you are racing against is clean. It is something that
