Two silver and bronze medal swimmers questioned the legitimacy of a gold-winning Russian's Olympic victory

• A silver and bronze medalist have questioned the legitimacy of a Russian swimmer's gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
• American Ryan Murphy said it was 'a huge mental drain' to swim 'in a race that's probably not clean.'
• Russia is banned from competing in international sports following a doping scandal in 2019.

A silver and a bronze medalist hinted that their race was not clean after a Russian won the men's 200 meter backstroke.

Evgeny Rylov beat America's Ryan Murphy and Team GB's Luke Greenbank to gold but the two runners-up seemingly questioned the legitimacy of the win.

After the race, the 26-year-old Murphy said it was "a huge mental drain on me that I'm swimming in a race that's probably not clean."

"I've got about 15 thoughts, 13 of them would get me into a lot of trouble. It is what it is. I try not to get caught up in that.

"The people that know a lot more about the situation made the decision they did. It frustrates me, but I have to swim the field that's next to me. I don't have the bandwidth to train for the Olympics and try to lobby the people who are making the decisions."

While neither Murphy or Greenbank directly accused Rylov of cheating, their comments seemingly referred to the Russian and his teammates for the Russian Olympic Committee after Russia was banned from the games for doping.

Murphy's comments were backed up by bronze medalist Greenbank who said it was a "frustrating situation."

"It's obviously a very difficult situation not knowing whether who you are racing against is clean. It is something that is part of sports and to be honest [Fina, swimming's governing body] needs to tackle that. It's a frustrating situation, I just need to keep my mind on the race and control what I can control.

"Obviously there's a lot of media around the Russian Federation coming into the Olympics. It's frustrating seeing that as an athlete, having known that there is a state-sponsored doping programme going on and feeling like maybe more could be done to tackle that."

Rylov, whilst sat between both Murphy and Greenbank in a press conference, denied ever doping.

"I have always been for clean competition. I am always tested. From the bottom of my heart, I am for clean sport. I am devoting my whole life to this sport.

"Ryan [Murphy] has all the right to think the way he does and to say whatever he says. This is today. We don't live in the past, we don't live in the future. Time will tell.

"Honestly, he did not accuse me of anything, that is why I don't have anything against him because he didn't put up anything against me directly," Rylov said.