Why the Australian swimming star says the event is damaging public confidence in clean sport
Updated ,first published
Australian swimming star Cam McEvoy laughed off performances at last month’s Advanced Games but admitted he was concerned about the public’s lack of confidence in clean sport after drug-using athletes failed to break world records.
Athletes openly ingested banned substances such as peptides and testosterone as they competed for huge prize money in swimming, athletics and weightlifting at the inaugural Advanced Games in Las Vegas.
Enhanced Games organizers claimed Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev “broke” McEvoy’s world record in the 50-metre freestyle with a time of 20.81 seconds, earning two race victories worth US$250,000, as well as a US$1 million ($1.4 million) bonus, for a total of US$1.5 million in winnings for the 67-second race.
McEvoy’s former Australian teammate James Magnussen finished last in the 50m and 100m freestyle races at the Enhanced Games. With 22.35 seconds in the 50-meter run in Vegas, the 35-year-old athlete would be in last place, well behind McEvoy (21.32) in the 50-meter freestyle final to be held on Wednesday night in the Australian swimming races.
Jamie Jack, brother of Olympian Shayna Jack, qualified for his first Australian team by placing second with a time of 21.52 and third ahead of Flynn Southam (21.72). 18-year-old Sydney player Ollie Moclair (21.79), Ben Armbruster (21.80), Isaac Cooper (21.90) and Tom Nowakowski (22.06) shot faster than Magnussen.
“It’s not too bad. I wanted it a little faster,” McEvoy said of his result. “The Commonwealth Games is a blueprint for reaching the top.
“[Australia’s depth] crazy. It’s quite an exciting sight. “I think our 50s will be a powerhouse in Brisbane.”
Jack said he broke down in tears after FaceTiming his sister, who was resting at a nearby hotel ahead of the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races this week.
“I started rolling my eyes [out]” said Jack. “I wasn’t sure when I would cry, but I knew it would be sometime tonight. “He just told me how proud he was of me.”
Improved Games was widely mocked; critics pointed out that Gkolomeev was the only athlete to swim faster than the official world record, despite having performance-enhancing substances in his system and wearing a banned supersuit that gave him a significant advantage.
The money on offer was going to be a tough pill to swallow for McEvoy, who lowered the official 50m freestyle world record to 20.88 seconds as a clean sweep in March.
“Like someone puts on fins [flippers] McEvoy said on the third day of the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships trials: “It’s an exhibition swim, it’s way outside the scope of normal sport. It’s marketing in a way.”
“The best people in sports were not there. He brought a lot of views, dominated the algorithm for a short time, but by and large the sports world will move on. That’s just the way it is.”
“Halfway through the competition they changed the way they portrayed it. They went from world records to PBs. [personal bests].
“I just try to focus on what I’m doing.”
What irritates McEvoy the most is the claim that clean athletes competing under anti-doping rules may not be playing by the rules because more than one world record has not been broken.
“One of the things I was disappointed about was that there was a lot of erosion of public trust in the response to the Improved results when people outside the sport made inferences like… oh, they didn’t break the records. It’s much more nuanced than that,” he said.
“It is truly disappointing to see the erosion of public confidence in clean sport.”
McEvoy, the reigning Olympic and world champion, beat Gkolomeev and Ben Proud, who have swum at the Advanced Games multiple times in recent years.
McEvoy laughed when asked if he would have eclipsed Gkolomeev’s 20.81 height if he had been allowed to wear the super suit.
“I made 25 [metre race] in that suit [in practice] and he was a lot faster with the suit than without it,” he said. “I was too young and small to wear them in 2009. [before they were banned]But yeah, I’ll leave it at that.
The Advanced Games have also reignited the debate over athlete compensation, particularly after IOC president Kirsty Coventry reiterated her view that it is not the organisation’s role to pay prize money at the Olympics.
Coventry said last month: “I do not believe in paying prize money to athletes at the Olympic Games because it will only benefit a very small number of athletes.” “I believe our mission as the IOC is to find ways to directly support large numbers of athletes on their journey to becoming Olympians.”
Responding to Coventry’s comments on social media, McEvoy proposed a model that included a $10,000 participation fee and medal bonuses of $100,000, $60,000 and $25,000 for gold, silver and bronze.
“That translates to about $180 million, which is only 1.5 percent of four years of revenue. [$12 billion] The IOC produces,” McEvoy wrote.
The four-time Olympian hopes the debate continues.
“I definitely think the conversation is a positive development [is now in the public domain]said McEvoy.
“This has definitely opened up potential avenues of opportunity to have better ways to generate more revenue for things like the Olympics and Olympic sports in general or things like that. I hope that momentum doesn’t go to waste. Some of the comments were not well-timed.”
Meanwhile, Sam Short made one of the swims of his career by breaking the Australian record in the 800-meter freestyle and became the fastest man to wear a textile suit and the third fastest man in history.
Her time of 7:36.73 was an improvement over the 7:37.76 in which she won the silver medal at the 2023 World Championships. His effort Wednesday night was fast enough to win gold at the Paris Olympics and the 2025 world championships; both were events at which Short was affected by the disease before or during the illness.
The world record of 7:32.12 belongs to Lin Zhang of China, but he was wearing a supersuit.
“That 7:32 is arguably the most untouchable world record,” Short said.
News, results and expert analysis from the sports weekend delivered every Monday. Sign up for our sports newsletter.
Tom Decent is chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
