{"id":366402,"date":"2024-02-09T00:19:39","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T01:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366402"},"modified":"2024-02-09T02:03:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T02:03:27","slug":"magnussen-accepts-1-5m-bet-to-dope-for-world-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=366402","title":{"rendered":"Magnussen accepts $1.5m bet to dope for world record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dual world champion and Olympic silver medallist J\ufeffames Magnussen<\/a> has welcomed the opportunity to compete in the newly created Enhanced Games after being presented a a treasure trove of more than $1.5 million.<\/p>\n

Magnussen retired from professional swimming in 2019 but will return to the pool in an attempt to break the 50m freestyle world record \u2014 only with the benefit of taking performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n

The Enhanced Games are a self-described \ufeff"doping free-for-all" where athletes are permitted to take performance-enhancing drugs in competition with no drug testing.\ufeff<\/p>\n

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\"James<\/p>\n

The competition is expected to include \ufeffaquatics, track and field, gymnastics, combat sports and weightlifting events, with all athletes paid a lucrative amount to compete.<\/p>\n

Currently, the International Olympic Committee has a zero-tolerance policy on doping, which is regulated by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)\ufeff.<\/p>\n

President of the Enhanced Games, Melbourne-born, London-based businessman Aron D'Souza, believes the Games are the future solution to doping in sport.<\/p>\n

Speaking on \ufeffSEN 1170 Breakfast, Magnussen accepted a $1.54 million wager from D'Souza if he can break the world record in the 50-metre freestyle at the Games.<\/p>\n

"People like James deserve to earn millions for the extraordinary feats they have accomplished and we are willing to do so," D'Souza told SEN on Friday.<\/p>\n

In regards to Magnussen, he added: "I firmly believe excellence deserves to be rewarded. You are courageous and you are heroic for taking this step. You will be recognised as a hero of science".\ufeff<\/p>\n

Magnussen, fondly dubbed "The Missile", represented Australia at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

On Thursday night he confirmed his interest to the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> after D'Souza last month stated that an Australian "household name" had reached out.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

Explaining his \ufeffreasons for jumping on board the controversial venture, Magnussen said both reception and dispute of performance enhancement are already creating an unfair sporting landscape to compete in.<\/p>\n

"I thought it was an interesting concept when I first heard it\u2026 We're pretty aware as Olympians in Australia that performance enhancements are going on in other countries. Australia is well known for being one of, if not, the cleanest in the Olympic Games\u2026," he said.<\/p>\n

"But it's not a level playing field internationally and we know that\u2026 I thought for the right price this would be a very interesting pursuit."<\/p>\n

Critics of the \ufeffGames are concerned about the health of the athletes in competition.<\/p>\n

As part of his involvement, Magnussen will undertake a prohibited supplement program.<\/p>\n

He \ufeffaffirmed that he would follow expert advice in the process.<\/p>\n

"I want to approach this the right way. I want to go to America, I want to get the right advice and take the right supplements," he said.<\/p>\n

"I don't know much about that world [of performance-enhancing drugs] so I want to do my research and have the right team behind me, and with the help of Aron, I'd like to document it through video form \u2014 show how it can be done safely, and properly and create an athlete we haven't seen before."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Magnussen is confident that he can lower his personal best time of 21.52 seconds in the 50m freestyle to break Brazillian swimmer Cesar Cielo's drug-free record of 20.91s set at the 2009 Brazilian Championships.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old does not believe his involvement in the movement will tarnish his sporting legacy, instead seeing it as \ufeffa valuable experiment in high performance.<\/p>\n

"I think it actually does the opposite," he said.<\/p>\n

"I'll be able to show a before-and-after which should essentially show this is a natural athlete and this is an enhanced athlete and hopefully the differences will be there to see.<\/p>\n

"There is no question over my career as an Olympic athlete. This would be a new point in time and say, 'Hey, let's test this thing out and see where human performance can go'."<\/p>\n

It is not known when or where the Enhanced Games will be staged but the first edition of the competition has been tentatively scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dual world champion and Olympic silver medallist J\ufeffames Magnussen has welcomed the opportunity to compete in the newly created Enhanced Games after being presented a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366402"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366408,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366402\/revisions\/366408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/366404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}