Australian gold-medal Olympian James Magnussen’s controversial pursuit of a $US1 million payday for breaking the 50m freestyle world record by using banned doping substances has been dashed at the Enhanced Games.
The former Aussie golden boy of the pool has spent months dosing up on banned steroids to enhance his physical ability in the hope it would help him break the record, and take home the cash offered by a group of business investors who are backing the games and a subsequent documentary.
But Magnussen’s dream of breaking the magical world record mark of 20.91 seconds was over as quickly as a stroll along the pool deck, after he looked up and witnessed his training partner and former Greek Olympian Kristian Gkolomeev hit the wall in 20.89 during his attempt.
“I looked out the door and heard the starter gun go off,” Magnussen said.
“I was probably at the 35-metre mark when I saw Kristian go past. He was absolutely flying. I was like, ‘Holy shit, that’s fast’.
“I looked up, and it was 20.89. It was bizarre. People were running into rooms everywhere. Kristian had broken the world record. It was crazy.”
The time was enough to secure Gkolomeev the $US1m with the offer extended to the “first” person to break the world record during the Enhanced Games.
The SMH is reporting that after months of injecting peptides and testosterone, Magnussen watched on in disbelief as Greek Olympian Gkolomeev stole his thunder, slicing through the water at an unprecedented pace.
A documentary crew was there to capture the drama as Gkolomeev, an Olympic finalist in the same race just 207 days earlier, jumped onto the lane rope and placed both hands on his head in shock.
Although Gkolomeev was using performance-enhancing drugs and wearing a banned suit. The image of him being presented a large novelty cheque was beamed around the world.
“This isn’t just about breaking records, it’s about breaking limits,” Gkolomeev said. “The Enhanced Games gave me the resources and the team to unlock a new level of performance – and now the whole world can see what’s possible.”
Respected Australian coach Brett Hawke, who has been secretly training Magnussen and Gkolomeev in the US ahead of next year’s inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas, was stunned.
“Kristian was a little pissed off that James was getting all the attention and wasn’t swimming great,” Hawke said. “He just gets up on the block and breaks the world record. 20.89. It was f…ing crazy.”
Magnussen, the Australian Olympian who famously fell short of winning a gold medal in the 100m freestyle by one hundredth of a second at the London 2012 Olympics, is still one of the faces of the Enhanced Games, which launched on Wednesday (Thursday morning Australian time) in Las Vegas.
It is quite the turnaround for an athlete who spent his entire swimming career fighting for clean sport and despising drug cheats.
“The first time you stick a needle of testosterone in your butt, you have to do it in the muscle at the top just above your undie line,” Magnussen explained with a laugh. “I never thought I’d be sticking a needle with testosterone into my bum at any point in my life.”
The controversial, privately funded event has been dubbed the “Steroid Olympics”.
Magnussen, 34, has been on a whirlwind doping journey since February last year, when he made the bombshell announcement that he would consider signing up as the Enhanced Games’ first athlete … if the price was right.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/swimming/enhanced-games-james-magnussens-us1m-world-record-pursuit-dashed-by-greek-rival-kristian-gkolomeev-c-18775287
