34 Facts About Yuliya Yefimova

Yuliya Andreyevna Yefimova is a Russian competitive swimmer.

Yuliya Yefimova is the Russian record holder in the 200 metre individual medley, 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke, and 200 metre breaststroke.

Yuliya Yefimova is a six-time World Champion, winning the 50 metre breaststroke in 2009 and 2013, the 100 metre breaststroke in 2015, and the 200 metre breaststroke in 2013,2017, and 2019.

Yuliya Yefimova is a former world record holder in the long course 50 metre breaststroke.

Yuliya Yefimova has won 109 medals, including 48 gold medals, at Swimming World Cups.

Yuliya Yefimova won gold medals at the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in the 50 metre and 100 metre breaststroke events.

Yuliya Yefimova won the finals, finishing first in 29.52 seconds.

In January 2014, it was announced that Yuliya Yefimova had failed an out of competition drug test in October 2013.

Yuliya Yefimova was stripped of her results and medals at the 2013 European Short Course Championships.

Yuliya Yefimova won a gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:05.66 that was seven tenths of a second faster than the next fastest swimmer, Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania.

Between 15 February and 30 March 2016, Yuliya Yefimova tested positive for meldonium six times in total.

In June 2016, Yuliya Yefimova returned to competition at the Los Angeles Invitational, winning the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:22.77.

Yuliya Yefimova was the silver medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 100 metre breaststroke and 200 metre breaststroke.

Yuliya Yefimova was initially banned from participation due to her previous doping suspension, but this ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing her to compete.

Yuliya Yefimova was criticized for taking performance-enhancing drugs by other swimmers, including Lilly King, who won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke.

The treatment of Yuliya Yefimova was covered by The Washington Post, which pointed out the asymmetry in how people responded to Yuliya Yefimova competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics compared to the response when Jessica Hardy of the United States competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

At the 2017 New South Wales State Open Championships in March in Sydney, Australia, Yuliya Yefimova won the 200 metre breaststroke event with a time of 2:28.80.

Yuliya Yefimova won the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:06.55.

In July, at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Yuliya Yefimova won the bronze medal in the 100 metre breaststroke in 1:05.05, finishing 0.92 seconds after the gold medalist, Lilly King, and 0.02 seconds after the silver medalist, Katie Meili.

Yuliya Yefimova ranked fourteenth in the prelims heats of the 200 metre individual medley, qualified for the semifinals, and withdrew from competition, forgoing competing in the semifinals.

Yuliya Yefimova won the gold medal in the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:21.31.

Yuliya Yefimova was one of three swimmers to win four gold medals at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships along with Adam Peaty of Great Britain and Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden.

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea in July, Yuliya Yefimova won the silver medal in the 100 metre breaststroke, finishing less than six-tenths of a second behind Lilly King of the United States with a time of 1:05.49.

Yuliya Yefimova won the bronze medal in the 50 metre breaststroke, finishing third behind gold medalist Lilly King and silver medalist Benedetta Pilato of Italy in 30.15 seconds.

On 19 May 2021, Yuliya Yefimova placed fourth in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary.

Yuliya Yefimova won a bronze medal in the 50 metre breaststroke as well, finishing with a 30.22 after gold medalist Benedetta Pilato and silver medalist Ida Hulkko of Finland.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, held in the summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yuliya Yefimova competed in two events.

Yuliya Yefimova competed in the third stop of the short course 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup in Doha, Qatar.

Yuliya Yefimova joined the competition at the Doha stop, the third of four stops in the year's World Cup circuit, after deciding not to compete at the first two stops.

Yuliya Yefimova entered to compete in all breaststroke events available to female swimmers at the Doha stop, which were the 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke, and 200 metre breaststroke races.

Yuliya Yefimova finished second in the final with a time of 2:20.49, winning the silver medal in the event.

Yuliya Yefimova dropped almost two seconds off her time from the prelims heats to win the gold medal in the final of the 100 metre breaststroke with a time of 1:04.56 that was one-hundredth of a second faster than the second-place finisher.

When points were summed across all four World Cup stops, Yuliya Yefimova ranked tenth in terms of overall score for female competitors, second for female competitors from a country that hosted at least one World Cup stop, and first for female Russian competitors.

Yuliya Yefimova was impacted by a nationality ban enacted by LEN and implemented on 3 March 2022, which permanently banned all Russians and Belarusians from their competitions, including the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, with no date of re-entry communicated at the time the ban took effect.