RIO DE JANEIRO (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, CNN reported that Efimova, who has lived in the United States for the last five years, planned to return to Los Angeles, saying, "life is so much easier [there] than in Russia."
"I said I would go back to the USA only to pick up my belongings. I've got an apartment there rented out for six more months and I'll go back there to take my stuff," Efimova was quoted as saying by Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, adding that journalists had misinterpreted her words.
Efimova, a four-time world champion, became a silver Olympic medalist this year. She had previously won bronze in the London Olympics in 2012.