Australian swimming golden girl Ariarne Titmus has rubbished the Enhanced Games, after a former Olympian broke the men’s 50m freestyle world record.
On Thursday morning, news broke Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev touched the wall in 20.89 in February which shaved 0.02 of a second off Cesar Cielo’s 2009 world record.
But Gkolomeev did it in a “juiced-up” pursuit of a $1.5m bounty put up by organisers of the Enhanced Games for breaking the world record.
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On Thursday morning, Titmus said the swim – which won’t be recognised by World Aquatics – was a “bit of a kick in the bum” for clean athletes.
“I actually saw that this morning – I’ve never heard of this guy in my life, but he broke the men’s 50m freestyle world record juiced up,” she said on Nova 100’s Jase & Lauren.
Aussie swimming star Ariarne Titmus. AP
“I was looking at it on my phone … this is a bit of a kick in the bum to any athlete who’s ever worked their whole life to train.
“Everyone’s obviously able to have their own opinion, but I don’t like it.”
Titmus and fellow Olympians have to maintain a strict diary of their whereabouts for them to be available for random drug tests.
“We have to go through so many processes to be clean. All the whereabouts, the drug testing, saying where we sleep every night for the drug testers to arrive.
“You’ve got to do so much to make sure you’re clean. It’s just, I don’t know… “
James Magnussen (pictured while clean) is the face of the Enhanced Games. Getty
Australian former Olympian James Magnussen is the face of the Enhanced Games, which launched in Las Vegas on Thursday morning (AEST), 12 months out from the first games.
Magnussen fell only one hundredth of a second short of Olympic gold in the 100m freestyle at the London 2012 Games. He was also one of the fiercest campaigners for a clean sport.
It was put to Titmus that Magnusson’s name is now “a bit mud” in the swimming community.
“I don’t feel like we’ve spoken about it too much … but I think most people would be of the same opinion,” she said.
With a hint of irony, Magnussen could only watch in disbelief as the (USD) $1 million novelty cheque he’d spent the past 12 months doping for was presented to someone else.
‘The Missile’ in February 2024 put out a call – that was subsequently answered by rich investors – saying he would “100 per cent do it” if the organisers of the Enhanced Games “came to the party with $1 million for the [50m freestyle] world record”.
With all the bells and whistles, Enhanced Games founder Aron D’Souza came, announcing he would stump up US$1m cheque for the world record.
Retired since 2019, the 34-year-old began a 12-month doping program under the supervision of doctors, in which he would take peptides and have steroids injected straight into his butt cheek.
Magnussen put on a huge amount of size preparing for the Enhanced Games. Enhanced Games
“I got jacked … I was probably 10 to 15 kilos bigger than any swimmer there’s ever been,” Magnussen told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“I did the first seven weeks straight, training twice a day. It was 49 days straight of high-intensity work in the pool and gym.”
Despite all the best intentions and supervision from doctors, the program was taking a toll on Magnussen’s body. When the day came to attempt the record at a pool in North Carolina, Magnussen was well off the pace.
His best time of three attempts was a 22.73 – a whopping 1.82sec slower than the 20.91 he was chasing, set by Cesar Cielo in 2009, and 1.21sec slower than his own clean PB of 21.52.
“By the time I got there, I was spent,” he said.
“It felt like the end of a really long journey rather than the pinnacle of high performance. There were some stressful moments around it because we couldn’t get suits right up until the last day. People were flying to other states to get suits off retired swimmers.
“I felt strong, I felt good in the water and my technique felt good, but I just had no go. It’s annoying because I did faster times than that in training.
“I kind of knew by the time we got there. I’ll talk myself into anything, but I kind of knew in the weeks leading up. We had a plan for the protocol to peak at week 12, but I ended up being on the protocol for 20 weeks.”
Magnussen was on a massage table when Gkolomeev, who had joined Magnussen in the quest for the world record last year after hearing the Aussie on a podcast, stepped up to the blocks.
Kristian Gkolomeev at the 2024 European Championships, before he quit to join the Enhanced Games. Getty
“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.”
Like Magnussen, Gkolomeev is a former Olympian who retired from traditional ‘clean’ competition to take part in the Enhanced Games last year. He had years earlier studied human performance exercise science at college in the US.
Gkolomeev reacts after breaking the 50m freestyle world record. Enhanced Games
He finished fifth in the 100m freestyle in Tokyo and Paris.
Magnussen was surprisingly calm for a bloke who had put the call out, had it answered, and then watch as someone else claimed it for themselves.
“I didn’t get a million bucks as well, which is annoying,” he said.
“I think the main thing for me was I got a really good understanding of this process and what to do, how to train for it.”
