Swimmer on steroids for Enhanced Games unveils ridiculous body transformation ahead of event

A former swimming world champion who is going to be competing at the Enhanced Games has shown off the transformation his body has undergone since he's started taking performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

Australian swimmer James Magnussen won a silver medal and two bronzes at the Olympic Games, and was 100m Freestyle world champion in 2011 and 2013.

He retired in 2019 but has since returned to swimming for the Enhanced Games as one of their first ever athletes, and will be competing in the 50m Freestyle and the 100m Freestyle on 24 May in Las Vegas.

Unlike typical sporting events, the Enhanced Games allows athletes to use performance-enhancing substances that are approved by the FDA.

Across the course of the day there'll be swimming, track, weightlifting and strongman events before an ending concert from The Killers, with prize money going to every athlete who competes in an event.

In the run-up to the games, he's shown off the body transformation he's undergone to compete, and the 35-year-old said that 'since taking PEDs' to prepare for the Enhanced Games 'all his metrics have improved'.

'My resting heart rate dropped to 28bpm'

Saying he takes his PEDs under supervision from doctors, Magnussen explained some of the changes he'd seen.

"My resting heart rate dropped from mid 50s to a low of 28bpm," the swimmer said, which means his heart is not even beating at the rate of once every two seconds.

He also says his strength 'skyrocketed' and he recovers 'twice as fast' as he used to, as well as 'rediscovered his motivation and mental drive'.

Speaking to LADbible last year about getting into the Enhanced Games, Magnussen said 'maybe we can get a couple of years out of this whole body yet' and reckons he'll stick around in swimming for a bit after the first games.

While he's transformed his body dramatically, Magnussen did mention that he'd had to tone down his performance enhancements as they were actually hampering his ability to swim.

He said: "There was a tipping point where everything was improving, and then my swimming speed started to decrease because of the size outside of the pool.

"Even at that world record attempt, I was jumping higher, throwing further, lifting heavier than I ever had before, but it didn't translate well into the water that last probably two months because I was just too big for a swimmer."

He also said the speed of his recovery was the most important part of taking PEDs for him, and in his recent videos showing off his transformation the swimmer had noted that near the end of his career he was racking up injuries and taking longer to bounce back.

The dangers of performance enhancing drugs

As one might imagine, a sporting event where the athletes have been on a regime of performance enhancing drugs has been met with heavy criticism.

A recent study into the impact of performance enhancing drugs on the body and the cardiovascular risks they might pose warned the Enhanced Games 'presents plausible and non-negligible CV risks and should be approached with appropriate scientific distance and caution'.

"The unfavourable reputation of PEDs is grounded in well-documented health risks and consistently detrimental findings reported in excessive or prolonged use," the researchers said.

They noted that the Enhanced Games could provide a 'high-risk observational setting' to study the impact of those drugs on the body, but that such an event 'demands exceptional ethical scrutiny, transparency, and long-term accountability'.

Last year, experts told The Guardian that athletes signing up to the Enhanced Games risk a bigger chance of heart attacks and psychiatric issues by taking PEDs, as well as their libido being 'killed off'.

Magnussen said taking them had made him 'able to train like an 18-year-old again' and that he'd not experienced side effects from his PEDs use, but the World Anti Doping Agency called the games 'a dangerous and irresponsible concept'.

They said: "It has become clear from the event’s launch in Las Vegas that a focus of the organisers is to sell their products and to play down the associated risks.

"Inducing elite athletes to use their profiles to promote the use of prohibited and potentially dangerous substances is harmful, in particular for young athletes."

Billionaire Aron D'Souza, one of the founders of the Enhanced Games, had previously told LADbible the safety of athletes was very important.

He said: "While there are risks involved with performance enhancements, our protocols are being designed to minimise these risks and ensure the long-term well-being of athletes."

The rules for Enhanced Games events

Taking place in Las Vegas this Sunday, many of the events will pit four athletes against each other any everyone will get some of the prize pot.

Take Magnussen's events, for example, he's up against Ben Proud, Kristian Gkolomeev and Andrii Govorov in the 50m Freestyle while he's got Gkolomeev, Shane Ryan and Hunter Armstrong for the 100m Freestyle.

It's a prize of $250,000 for the winner, second place gets $125,000, third scoops $75,000 and the fourth gets $50,000 for competing.

There are also bonuses of $250,000 for most events if the winner manages to break an existing world record, but if the 50m Freestyle record is surpassed it's a million dollars.

It means everyone competing will walk away with a payday of prize money, and it'll be a lot of money for those who win.

Of course any such 'record breaking' wouldn't be recognised by the wider athletic community as the athletes for the Enhanced Games are allowed to take PEDs and use banned equipment such as swimming suits.

World Aquatics said the Enhanced Games was 'like clowns juggling knives' and said athletes participating were taking 'ten steps backwards'.