In a bold and controversial move, Australian Olympic medallist James Magnussen, known as "The Missile," embarked on a quest to break the 50-metre freestyle world record taking part in the Enhanced Games – a forthcoming sporting event that permits and supervises the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).
After retiring in 2019, Magnussen announced his return to competitive swimming in February last year. The "Hello Sport" podcast featured a call between one of the hosts and The Missile where he said the words that later appeared on multiple articles and gained an enormous amount of attention: “If they put up a million dollars for the 50 freestyle world record, I’ll come on board as their first athlete. I’ll juice to the gills, and I’ll break it within six months.”
With the Enhanced Games program, the 34-year old athlete was aiming to surpass César Cielo's 2009 world record of 20.91 seconds in the 50m freestyle.
Magnussen's Transformation
Embracing the event's pro-PED stance, the swimmer committed to a regimen that involved regular enhancing shots, strict diet and 14 training sessions per week. That would have been impossible without the program – his schedule in the beginning of the program included six training sessions per week: “Before I left Australia, I was training once a day, six days a week. And by Thursday, Friday, I was tired, I was sore, I was struggling,” Magnussen said in a documentary covering his journey.
“Came over here, I started the enhanced protocol, and pretty much straight away I started training seven days a week, twice a day.”
Magnussen, who competed at approximately 94kg (207lbs) at the 2012 London Olympics, saw his bodyweight skyrocket while on, what he calls “the protocols”.
“Within about six weeks, I ballooned up to about 252lbs and was starting to look a little more like a bodybuilder than a swimmer,” he explained.
“My power in the pool skyrocketed, but with that 252 lbs, my flotation in the pool descended quite drastically.”
Veteran swimming coach Brett Hawke added: “The enhancements certainly helped him get stronger and helped him recover. But they’ve also had the negative effect of putting on muscle that we didn’t necessarily want.”
“The heavier you are, the heavier you sit.”
The Record Attempts
Despite his jacked physique and training, Magnussen's timed trials yielded results of 23.35 and 22.72 seconds – both significantly slower than the standing world record.
Notably, these attempts were made while wearing a supersuit similar to those banned by World Aquatics in 2010 due to its dramatic impact on performance.
The Olympic medallist expressed his feelings about missing the mark saying, “I’m really disappointed with the time on the board because I don’t think it’s a true reflection of my preparation and the sacrifices I’ve made.”
Did someone break the record?
Kristian Gkolomeev, also trained by Hawke in the U.S., successfully broke the world record. He completed the 50m freestyle in 20.89 seconds, surpassing Cielo's time by 0.02 seconds.
Gkolomeev's performance, achieved under the Enhanced Games' protocols, earned him a $1 million cheque that he calls a huge sum of money: “I would need at least five careers to just make a million dollars. It’s just crazy.”
Training Under Legal Constraints
Both athletes trained in the United States due to legal restrictions on PED use in their home countries – Australia and Greece. This relocation allowed them to follow the Enhanced Games' supervised enhancement programs without legal repercussions.
The Enhanced Games, scheduled to debut in Las Vegas in May 2026, operate outside traditional sporting regulations, allowing athletes to use PEDs under medical supervision.