Retired Swimmer James Magnussen Accepts $1.5m Challenge to Compete at ‘Enhanced Games’

Retired Australian swimmer James Magnussen has accepted a lucrative challenge to participate in the controversial ‘Enhanced Games‘, an Olympic-style event for drug-taking athletes. Australian entrepreneur Aron D’Souza founded the event, which allows athletes to compete without drug testing.

Magnussen, a dual world champion and Olympic silver medallist, has been offered a prize of $1.5 million to break the 50 metres freestyle record at the Enhanced Games. The event, supported by a billionaire backer, aims to showcase the potential of the human body improved through science.

The Enhanced Games have faced criticism from Olympic officials and medical experts who deem it dangerous. The competition includes swimming, diving, track and field, gymnastics, combat sports, and weightlifting. However, any world records broken will not be officially ratified.

The event, scheduled for next year, has seen interest from more than 900 athletes worldwide. Billionaires Peter Thiel and Christian Angermayer, along with multi-millionaire Balaji Srinivasan, are private-sector funders of the Enhanced Games.

Despite retiring from professional swimming in 2019, James Magnussen is enthusiastic about participating in the ‘doping free-for-all’ competition. He believes that it exposes the unfairness of the current sporting landscape, where some countries have less stringent anti-doping measures. Magnussen plans to undertake a prohibited supplement program under professional guidance and document the process through videos.

Magnussen aims to break the 50 metres freestyle world record of 20.91 seconds held by Brazilian swimmer Cesar Cielo. He sees the Enhanced Games as an opportunity to explore the limits of human performance and showcase the difference between natural and enhanced athletes.