Australia swimming duo face global bans
Source: AAP
Australian coach Brett Hawke and swimmer James Magnussen face global bans for their involvement in the drug-friendly Enhanced Games.
Hawke and Magnussen are in the crosshairs of World Aquatics, which has enacted a law giving swimmingâs global body power to ban anyone associated with Enhanced Games.
Australiaâs triple Olympic medallist Magnussen was the first athlete to commit to competing at the inaugural Enhanced Games in Las Vegas in May next year.
And dual Olympian Hawke has been appointed Enhanced Gamesâ swim coach.
The pair face World Aquatics bans under a fresh bylaw ratified by swimmingâs global governing body on Wednesday.
âThose who enable doped sport are not welcome at World Aquatics or our events,â World Aquatics president Husain Al Musallam said.
âThis new bylaw ensures that we can continue to protect the integrity of our competitions, the health and safety of our athletes, and the credibility of the global aquatics community.â
Al Musallam urged national federations, including Swimming Australia, to enact similar laws.
The World Aquatics bylaw is effectively a catch-all covering âany individual who supports, endorses or participates in sporting events that embrace the use of scientific advancements or other practices that may include prohibited substances and/or prohibited methodsâ.
â[They] will not be eligible to hold positions with World Aquatics or to participate in any World Aquatics competitions, events or other activities. This ineligibility would apply to roles such as athlete, coach, team official, administrator, medical support staff or government representative,â it said.
Any ban is unlikely to affect Magnussen, who retired from competitive swimming after the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
The dual 100-metre freestyle world champion came out of retirement to compete at Enhanced Games, an event supporting the use of performance-enhancing drugs to feature swimming, athletics and weightlifting.
But it could affect Hawke, who has coached in the US since 2006.
Enhanced Games was officially launched last month by Australian entrepreneur Aron DâSouza. He has backing from multibillionaires and a family company of US President Donald Trump.
DâSouza will soon respond to World Aquaticsâ move, while Hawke forecast some backlash when at the Enhanced Gamesâ launch in Las Vegas last month.
âYouâd be silly not to think that people arenât going to be opposed to it,â Hawke said on May 21.
âBut weâre outside the scope of the Olympic Games and World Aquatics; weâre not competing in that space.
âI would never want an athlete to participate at the Olympic Games and be cheating and, unfortunately, I think that is happening in this day and age.â
Hawke has already started coaching Magnussen and the second athlete to sign for Enhanced Games, Greeceâs four-time Olympic freestyler Kristian Gkolomeev.
The pair swam timed 50-metre freestyle races while on performance-enhancing drugs in February in the US.
Gkolomeev clocked 20.89 seconds, bettering the 50-metre freestyle world record of 20.91 set by Brazilâs Cesar Cilio when coached by Hawke in 2009, to collect $US1 million ($A1.5 million) offered by Enhanced Games for anyone breaking the legal benchmark.
Ukraineâs 50-metre butterfly world record-holder Andriy Govorov and Bulgarian butterflier Josif Miladino are other confirmed athletes for Enhanced Games. Further signings are to be announced.
-AAP
Want to see more stories from The New Daily in your Google search results?
- Click here to set The New Daily as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "The New Daily". That's it.








