Australian Olympic champion Cam McEvoy has rubbished a record claimed by a Greek swimmer using performance-enhancing drugs and dismissed the relevance of the Enhanced Games.
Kristian Gkolomeev claimed to have blitzed the 50m freestyle in 20.89 seconds in February, eclipsing the official current record time of 20.91 set in 2009 by the Brazilian Cesar Cielo.
Greece’s Gkolomeev has been taking performance-enhancing drugs while training for next year’s Enhanced Games and was also wearing a special swim suit that would breach Olympic standards.
Photo: AP
“It doesn’t count in any way, shape or form when you take drugs or wear one of the banned suits, or both,” said McEvoy, who won 50m freestyle gold at last year’s Paris Olympics. “It’s got no relevance to Olympic or world championship 50m comps, or to the international rankings around them.”
The first edition of the Enhanced Games is to be staged in Las Vegas in May next year, with athletes
participating in three sports — athletics, swimming and weightlifting. Athletes would be allowed to use drugs which are banned across international sport such as steroids and human growth hormones.
Anti-doping authorities on Thursday lined up to condemn the event.
The World Anti-Doping Agency called it “a dangerous and irresponsible concept.”
Aron D’Souza, the Australian entrepreneur behind the event, said it was an exercise in testing the boundaries of human performance.
Winners stand to reap US$250,000, and a bonus of US$1 million for anyone who breaks a world record.
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