Enhanced Games are an Aussie innovation Will allow athletes to test themselves without drug testing Aussie James Magnussen has confirmed he will take part
Three-time Olympic gold medal winner Leisel Jones is supportive of athletes testing themselves and taking the cash on offer at the proposed Enhanced Games, but she has one condition.
It comes after Australian swimming star James Magnussen announced that he will take part in the Enhanced Games, a controversial competition where there will be no drug testing and athletes are encouraged to dope to perform.
He will start a program of performance-enhancing supplements in the quest to break the 50m world record and win $1.5m after accepting a challenge from the founder of the Enhanced Games.
The Games were founded by Australian Aron D’Souza, who confirmed on Friday that he would guarantee the prize, with the timing for the event yet to be confirmed.
D’Souza launched his vision for the Enhance Games that would allow competitors to compete without drug testing, adamant many of the world’s best athletes already use ‘performance enhancements’.
‘It is time to safely celebrate science,’ the Enhance Games website reads.
‘Sports can be safer without drug testing.’
Jones spoke about the proposed Enhanced Games on Triple M’s The Rush Hour with Leisel Jones, Liam & Dobbo
The Olympian said she would be interested to see how fast athletes could go, but wants records to be kept separate
Aussie swimmer James Magnussen has become the first high-profile athlete to announce he will compete at the Enhanced Games
While Jones, 38, is not in a position to compete at the Enhanced Games when and if they go ahead, she is intrigued to see how fast athletes can go when untethered by anti-doping regulations.
‘I’m in two camps, I’ve always said this would be a wonderful idea just to see how fast people can go,’ she said on Triple M’s The Rush Hour with Leisel Jones, Liam & Dobbo.
‘I don’t want to participate in it myself, I’m not in a position to do that. The risks are too big for me I think for the side effects and what not.
‘If this clears out people who genuinely want to do that (take performance enhancing drugs) and are doing illegal things in sport, if that clears them out our clean sport, that would be wonderful.
‘This will hopefully keep clean sport, clean.’
Jones, who won three Olympic gold medals, said the Enhanced Games would actually help clean up traditional sports
Jones’ caveat for supporting the Enhanced Games, though, is that the records set would be kept separate from clean sport.
‘I just don’t know what they are going to do with world records after that though,’ she said.
‘Keep that (world records) separate.’
But Jones questions how much male swimmers will be able to improve their times in the pool by taking performance-enhancing supplements.
‘He is already very shredded, he’s already extremely muscular and lean, he doesn’t really need to put on too much size so I don’t know that the steroids are going to be that helpful, because you want to float as much as possible, muscle is very heavy and doesn’t float very well.’ she said.
‘They’re beneficial for women because they can build their testosterone and be bigger and leaner.”
Magnussen will take expert advice on his supplements program ahead of his Enhanced Games debut
Australian Aron D’Souza is the mastermind of the Enhanced Games and wants to see them take place in the near future
Magnussen, who retired from swimming in 2019 having won Olympic and world championship medals, said he would do his research and undertake a supplement program that would allow him to pursue the record ‘safely, properly’ and create ‘an athlete we haven’t seen before’.
‘I thought it was an interesting concept when I first heard it … we’re pretty aware as Olympians in Australia that there is performance enhancements going on in other countries. Australia is well known for being one of if not the cleanest in the Olympic Games,’ Magnussen said.
‘But it’s not a level playing field internationally and we know that … I thought for the right price this would be a very interesting pursuit.’
As for his supplement program, Magnussen said he’d follow expert advice.
‘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.
‘I don’t know much about that world, 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.
‘Show how it can be done safely, properly and create an athlete we haven’t seen before.’
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