Aussie golden girl Ariarne Titmus slams 'steroids Olympics' as her former teammate James Magnussen gets juiced up for wild sporting event

• e-mail

Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus has taken aim at the controversial Enhanced Games that her former teammate James Magnussen is preparing to participate in.

Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev has bettered a world record while on drugs, becoming a millionaire in less than 21 seconds.

The four-time Olympian is the second confirmed athlete for Enhanced Games, a sports event with no drug testing in Las Vegas next May.

Titmus, appearing on Nova 100’s Jase & Lauren on Thursday morning, didn't hold back when discussing the topic.

'Yeah, I actually saw this morning that, I've never heard of this guy in my life, but he broke the men's 50 meter freestyle world record. Juiced up, and I was looking at it on my phone,' she said.

'I was just, this is a bit of a kick in the bum to any athlete who's ever worked their whole life to train. 

Ariarne Titmus (pictured) has unleashed at the controversial Enhanced Games that her former teammate James Magnussen is preparing to participate in

Australian swimmer James Magnussen says he's never felt better after taking drugs ahead of the Enhanced Games launch

'I mean, everyone's, you know, obviously able to have their own opinion, but I don't like it....

'And we have to go through so many processes to be clean, you know, all the whereabouts, the drug testing, saying where we sleep every night for the drug testers to arrive.

'You've got to do so much to be to make sure you're clean.'

Gkolomeev followed Australia's James Magnussen in joining Enhanced Games, which promises $US1 million to any swimmer besting the men's 50m freestyle world record.

And the 31-year-old followed Magnussen to a training session in Greensboro Aquatics Centre in North Carolina on February 25.

Magnussen, 10 weeks into his first course of using performance enhancing drugs, was the focus of the then-secret testing.

But Gkolomeev, three weeks into his course, clocked the fastest 50 free in history - 20.89 seconds, 0.02s inside Brazilian Cesar Cielo's legal benchmark set in the supersuit era in 2009.

'I was there for training, to see the facility, to feel more comfortable about my try two months later,' Gkolomeev told AAP in an interview in Las Vegas.

At the Enhanced Games, athletes are encouraged to use the sort of drugs that would otherwise see them cop huge bans from competing (stock image) 

Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev (pictured) has bettered a world record while on drugs

 'There was no pressure. All eyes were on James.

'I swim and I touch the wall and see 28.89 and I'm like, no way, no way.

'And the suit that I had on, it's not the good suit which they used in 2009 ... it's more for open water.'

Gkolomeev had to keep his feat, and new-found wealth, secret until detailed by Enhanced Games at the event's launch on Wednesday.

'It still feels like I never did it, you know, because nobody knew ... I feel like it didn't happen,' he said.

Only Gkolomeev's family and tight friends knew of his involvement in Enhanced Games. He joined for three reasons.

'Most important is fair pay from swimming,' he said.

'Unfortunately, I didn't make any money in Greece.

Magnussen has kept himself in peak condition and wants to see how fast he can go 

'From the last two Olympic Games, I got fifth (in the 50m freestyle) and nothing really changed ... it's kind of frustrating.

'I sat down and thought about it: one successful year at the Enhanced Games, I can probably make as much as I would have made in almost 10 careers.

'That's huge. And I have a family now, I have a three-year-old boy and I want us to live more comfortably.'

Secondly, Gkolomeev believed he raced drug-taking swimmers at the Olympics.

'I was suspecting, but you never know, I cannot prove it,' he said.

'But us athletes, sometimes we understand something sketchy.'

Gkolomeev's third reason?

'I always wanted to see what my full potential can be ... I was really interested to see what's possible.'

Meanwhile, Magnussen recently took his first course of performance enhancements over eight to 10 weeks in the United States and says he's never felt better.

Medicos told Magnussen he 'might put on a bit of muscle' in four to six weeks after starting enhancements.

'Within 10 days, I put on 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) of muscle,' he said.

'I just was getting bigger and stronger and my strength just went through the roof.

'Halfway through my protocol, I probably could have gone to a 50-metre swimming race or Mr Olympia (the famous bodybuilding competition).

'I was just getting so big and so strong and we didn't know that would happen.

'In terms of health metrics, my resting heart rate lowered, my blood pressure lowered, my cholesterol lowered - my fitness was really good.

'They were the things that I think everyone was worried about and they were actually not an issue at all.'