'Widespread suspicion': Swimming rocked by shock new 'conspiracy'

The swimming world championships have been plagued by more drama after outspoken American champion Lilly King was disqualified in shock circumstances on Thursday.

However even more shocking was the sinister conspiracy theory that emerged in the aftermath.

After an appeal process that lasted more than eight hours, the Olympic champion was not allowed to compete in Thursday night's 200m breaststroke semi-finals.

King touched the wall first in her heat at Gwangju in a time that would have qualified her second fastest for the semi-finals.

However, the Olympic 100m breaststroke champion looked astounded when she emerged from the pool to discover she had been disqualified.

Officials claimed King had not touched the wall with both hands at the same time at the first turn.

US officials immediately appealed the verdict and sent the matter to the jury of appeal.

But it was to no avail with officials finally confirming King's disqualification just before the evening program on night five of the eight-day titles.

American fans were fuming over the decision, with many suggesting FINA might have targeted King over her recent comments about Sun Yang.

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King has made headlines for being a vocal critic of FINA's handling of doping cases, taking aim at the world body over Sun's presence at the world titles.

She questioned why the controversial Chinese star had been allowed to compete in South Korea before he faces a hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

He is accused of smashing vials of his blood in a clash with testers last year.

‘Sad reflection’ on FINA

Wayne Smith of The Australian said it was a “sad reflection” on FINA that the swimming world had immediately jumped to that conclusion.

“The widespread suspicion was that FINA was paying her back,” Smith wrote on Friday.

“That’s a terrible accusation to make but it was, nonetheless, the kneejerk reaction of most onlookers.

“The sport cannot continue to have its administrators held in such low regard and while FINA seems happy to wear the mistrust of athletes over the drug issues, it cannot continue to allow its authority and credibility to be undermined in the day-to-day administration of the sport.”

US reports claim King was not told why she had been disqualified when she got out of the pool and was turned away by officials when the baffled champion approached them pool-side.

It is believed the US team did not receive an official reason until half an hour after her race.

King has never been disqualified during her glittering career which features two Olympic and five world titles including 100m breaststroke gold in South Korea on Tuesday night.

King: ‘Came back to haunt me’

On Friday, King said officials made the right call, but seemed to buy into the claims that perhaps she had a target on her back.

“When you saw it in super slo-mo and super zoom, I definitely did it,” she said.

“Do I think maybe something I had said about FINA earlier maybe came back to haunt me in the jury? Yeah, probably,

“But I'm still going to stand up for what I believe in and in the end the official made the right call.”

King describes her technique as unorthodox.

She staggers her hands, with her right touching flat above the water and her left poking the wall with a finger. She uses her flat hand to push away.

On-deck judges observe each lane to ensure swimmers touch the wall simultaneously.

“I think it would have been very difficult to see with the human eye personally, but I think the official was standing at just the right angle and she got me,” King said. “The officials are there to do their job and that's what they did.”

She's glad this latest DQ occurred at worlds instead of next year's Olympics.

“I still have a whole year to fix that and make it better and make it perfect before we get to Tokyo,” she said.

with agencies