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Indiana University: Olympic swimmer can't sign autographs

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Olympic gold medalist Lilly King won't be signing autographs at a minor-league baseball game in Evansville on the recommendation of Indiana University, where she is a sophomore.

The Evansville Otters weren't supposed to make her autograph session the focus of a news release about the team's game against the Southern Illinois Miners on Friday, the Evansville Courier & Press (http://bit.ly/2bj5tf3 ) reported.

King is limited in the scope of her public appearances by NCAA rules. Indiana University's compliance office said the sophomore can attend the game but can't make promotional appearances.

"Our compliance office just got wind of that today," Looze said Tuesday night. "She's been told she can't sign autographs. She's going to the game but she's not going to sign autographs."

The Otters removed the news release from its website Tuesday evening and deleted a tweet that promoted the autograph signing.

"We had done our homework, thought everything had been approved and then found out that it was not," said Andrea Wallace, operations manager for the Otters. "So, we're working with them (IU compliance) to make sure nothing is going to interfere with (King's) collegiate status because her interest is what we're concentrating on right now. So we'll send out an updated release when we get clearance for what we can do."

King won the 100-meter breaststroke at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She also swam a leg of the United States' winning 400 medley relay.

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com

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