In one of our most thought-provoking episodes yet, I sit down with former Olympic swimmer and more importantly: FRIEND OF THE SHOW-James Magnussen for a conversation that's been years in the making. When I reached out to James to say G'day, he casually drops that he's been following my covert faceless ramblings as 'the28yearoldmale' for years. So naturally, we figured it was about time to have a proper chat.

James is knee-deep in what might be the most controversial thing to happen to competitive sport since someone decided drug testing was a good idea: the Enhanced Games. Think Olympics, but athletes can legally juice up with steroids, peptides, and whatever other performance-enhancing goodies science has cooked up. Before you start picturing roided out monsters smashing in stringer singlets, James breaks down the surprisingly rigorous medical oversight that keeps this whole experiment from turning into unethical madness.

We get right into the weeds with it all, and James—who competed clean at the Olympics—makes some bloody compelling arguments about how enhanced competition might actually save traditional sport from itself. His take on where Olympic sports are currently failing to keep people interested are refreshingly brutal and probably overdue.

James was honest about the existential crisis that hits the majority of athletes when their Olympic dreams wrap up, the weird business of finding purpose after spending your entire life chasing the clock without much to show for it financially, and why he's chosen to poke the entire sporting establishment with a very sharp stick.

It's the kind of conversation that starts with performance enhancement and somehow ends up dissecting what it means to push human limits—both physical and societal. James doesn't dodge the hard questions what so ever, wasn't afraid to have a laugh at his own expense and probably solved world peace in there somewhere too.

A bloody interesting chat with a great bloke, hope you enjoy the listen

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