Lilly King Receives Gift From Russian Admirer [PHOTO]
You would think people in Russia hold Evansville native, and Olympic Gold Medalist, Lilly King in the same regard the people of Gotham City hold The Joker after her feud with Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova became one of the top stories of the 2016 Rio Olympics. But, it appears at least one of them holds enough of a fondness for King to send her a gift.
Lilly's swim coach at IU, Ray Looze, posted the following photo to Instagram early Tuesday morning displaying the gift.
If you've ever watched a movie or TV show that featured a cold, Russian winter, you've likely seen this type of hat worn by someone in the scene. In Russia, it's known as Ushanka, and has been around for hundreds of years, being adapted by Russian military as part of their uniform around 1939 during the Winter War with Finland.
The name of this admirer wasn't mentioned by Coach Looze in his post, however Lilly did comment on the post, jokingly (I think) claiming it was bugged and should be destroyed. With tensions between our two countries on the rise, that may not be a terrible idea.
[Source: Ray Looze via Instagram]