James Magnussen becomes the first high-profile Australian Olympian to volunteer for 'steroid games' where athletes can dope as much as they want

Aussie Olympian James Magnussen has become the country's first high-profile athlete to voice his support for a controversial new event where steroid use is not only allowed but actively encouraged.

The Herald Sun has reported that the champion swimmer has embraced the opportunity to compete for a $1.5 million bounty in the Enhanced Games, an unconventional competition that allows performance-enhancing drugs.

Magnussen has committed to a specialist supplement regime in his quest to break the 50m freestyle world record, with the potential to secure a substantial $1 million prize if he is successful.

The challenge was initiated by Magnussen and accepted by Enhanced Games founder Aron D'Souza, who assured him of the seven-figure reward on SEN.

Australian entrepreneur D'Souza runs the Enhanced Games, a controversial competition in which performance-enhancing drugs are given the green light to see what the human body is capable of.

Positioned as a direct competitor to the Olympic Games, this unconventional event embraces a no-holds-barred approach to doping to explore the outer limits of human physical capacity.

At the Enhanced Games, steroid use by athletes is not only permitted, but actively encouraged

Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza is behind the Enhanced Games which he wants to see rival the Olympics

Things gained momentum in 2024 when several former Olympians – now including Magnussen – pledged to participate in the opening games.

The Enhanced Games are also open to anyone to register, not just Olympians, with the website saying the welcome mat was open to all athletes where they are 'natural, adaptive or enhanced, an amateur or a former Olympian' .

Organizers have claimed that as many as 900 athletes have agreed to take part and hope to stage the first event before the Paris Olympics, although a date and location have not been announced.

And the Enhanced Games have gotten some serious momentum with PayPal founder and billionaire Peter Thiel throwing his support behind the initiative. He was unveiled as an investor in the multi-million dollar seed round earlier this week.

Magnussen had a checkered swimming career in his best years.

His highlight came at the 2012 London Olympics, where he won a silver medal in the 100m freestyle and anchored the Australian relay team gold.

However, he faced disappointment at the 2016 Rio Olympics, failing to qualify for the 100m freestyle final and missing the podium in the relay events.

“We want to end the suppression of science in sports and allow human potential to reach its maximum,” D'Souza told Decrypt in an interview.

Former Olympic gold medalist Anna Meares, who is Olympic chef de mission for the Summer Olympics in Paris, told The Guardian: “It's a joke, to be honest.”

“Unfair, unsafe – I just don't think it's the right way to handle sport,” she said.

Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), told CNN that the Enhanced Games were “a clown show” and “not a real sport.”

A British anti-doping spokesman told MailSport: 'UKAD is extremely concerned about the concept of enhanced games and the health risks it may pose to athletes.

“Clean athletes work hard for their right to compete on the biggest stages of sports, knowing they did so with integrity and followed the rules.”