The leader of the Russian swimming team Yulia Efimova, who has been training in the US for more than 10 years, has said she would accept an American passport if the opportunity arises.
The 29-year-old, who moved to the US in 2011, said that at first she needs to get 'green card' resident status before thinking about American citizenship, but she would gladly obtain it to avoid the visa re-application process which she constantly deals with.
“I don’t have the green card so far, and you are asking me about the US citizenship,” the six-time world champion said.
“But if I had such an opportunity to receive it, why not? I’m thinking about getting the green card, it would really simplify the process of obtaining visas. It’s really hard to constantly apply and re-apply for visas. We will see what will happen next,” the swimmer added.
In previous interviews Efimova said she doesn’t understand those who lash out at Russian athletes with dual citizenship, adding that a person with a US passport doesn’t need visas to enter multiple European countries.
The athlete, who is getting ready for her fourth Olympics, has never regretted the decision to leave Russia for the US, stressing that her relations with coach Irina Vyatchyanina were far from ideal, with conflicts constantly featuring in their training process.
“I have never regretted that I moved [to the US]. At that moment I had an option either to retire or change something. I lived with that feeling for more than a year.
"My relations with coach Irina Vyatchyanina were not easy. We often quarreled, it’s difficult for two women to get along together. Maybe she treated my departure as a sort of betrayal or runaway, but I couldn’t do other than what I did,” she said.
Efimova has represented Russia at three Olympics, winning bronze at the 2012 London Games before adding two silver medals four years later in Rio.
In 2016, the swimmer risked missing the Olympic Games after the International Swimming Federation ruled that athletes with unclean doping records wouldn’t be allowed to participate.
The athlete succeeded in overturning that decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and was approved to take part in the competition just days before the swimming competitions began.