During the final event of the Enhanced Games last night, enhanced athlete Kristian Gkolomeev swam to a 20.81 in the 50 freestyle. Viewers have already begun to question the validity of the time as the clock displayed on the screen shows a 20.81 when Gkolomeev was still about a full stroke away from the wall.
The Conspiracy
Some viewers have already pointed out that they hand-timed the 50 free and clocked a 21.0-21.1 rather than a 20.81. The video below uses the clock on the screen which shows Gkolomeev a stroke away from the wall when the clock is at a 20.81. This video also synced the 0.00 mark to when the light went off on the starting blocks.
The Potential Motivation(s)
There are a few explanations for this and it is hard to know which will be true. There was some incentive for the Enhanced Games to have a timing system be erroneous as the 50 freestyle was the final event of the 6-hour Games and no World Records had been broken yet.
The Explanations
There also is the other side of the explanation that could be the cameras were just not synced up to the clock for the race. It is important to note that a clock was not even displayed during the first swimming race of the night, the men’s 50 backstroke. Other important observations include that the men’s 100 breast was the only other race where the touch was filmed from overhead, and it does appear to be slightly out of sync with the splits.
If the clock was out of sync, it would not be the first time. During the first prelims session of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the clock displayed to viewers was about 2 seconds faster than the official results showed.
Of note, Gkolomeev has been as fast as a 20.89 before as he swam that time a year ago, in a supersuit, and as an Enhanced athlete. He also swam a 46.60 100 free earlier in the session, faster than his lifetime best as a non-enhanced athlete.
With his 20.81, Gkolomeev earned a $1 million bonus, in addition to his $250k for winning the 50 free. Gkolomeev was suited up in a supersuit and also is an enhanced athlete.
The World Record in the 50 freestyle sits at a 20.88 that Cam McEvoy swam earlier this year at the 2026 China Swimming Open. McEvoy already took to his Instagram story with two memes, including one saying “Seriously?! Thats all you got!” McEvoy was not in a supersuit during his 20.88, and he is also not an enhanced athlete.
Clear video of it here all in one take. He did go 20.81: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYv5xdChZUh/?igsh=YWhtbnM0N3gzbjdp
First one-cut video I’ve seen from an independent journalist. Good find.
But once again I’m wondering how you can KNOW that he went 20.81 if you rely on a video where one must react to the start gun / light.
What am I missing here, folks?
And why did what I asked about below get ignored / downvoted? The guy in that vid did a superb analysis.
(I can see that nobody gaf anymore.) 😂
And I can see that the Elephant is obviously back under a different username lol
The analysis that guy did is flawed in the same way all the other geniuses on here were.
How?
Switching of cameras on poorly run broadcast means it can all be not quite synced up.
“WE ARE HERE TO STAY. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.”
I’m not a fan of using the branded euphemism of ‘Enhanced athlete’ for their PED fuelled cheats, definitely not a fan of using it to describe Cam (‘not an enhanced athlete’).
It gives their grift a sense of legitimacy, as if there’s two equal groups; ‘enhanced’ and ‘non enhanced’ athletes. We know that’s not the case.
These are just a tiny group of grifters who are themselves a subset of the other drug cheats.
Why shouldn’t these “games” use an enhanced clock? Makes perfect sense
What about this?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYwAN9NyhDw/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=afbaca93-ab35-4ffd-b0a1-de95bde07ece&ig_mid=E2155A8C-A6FE-4AEA-B564-926D0132E75F
This is superb analysis.
Prove me wrong.
(Downvoting is not proof.) 😂
Something stinks here! The controversy over 20.81 did not arise out of thin air. These jerks rigged it. We’ll know the truth eventually.
The internet’s reaction says everything: instead of “what an incredible athlete,” people were asking “was the clock synced properly?” Anti-doping is not only about fairness or health — it also exists to ensure that the audience can trust and believe what they are watching.
We shouldn’t trust anything Thiel-funded.
You people need to relax. If you don’t have anything better to do than sit there punching the air because a bunch of fully grown adults made the decision to take part in an event like this and take home all of that cash, then I recommend touching some grass. This event takes nothing away from clean swimming or traditional Olympic sport. It is something totally different. These times do not count as official times, they are part of a different category. Just take it for what it is, let people be and stop enraging yourself over things that have no bearing on your own life. Beauty of it being a free country, people can choose to do what they… Read more »
Is one of the things that people are free to do in America ‘criticize the Enhanced Games’? Or…does that freedom only apply to people who liked the Enhanced Games?
Of course you can criticize it. We can all state our opinions. My point is if would just chill and stop getting worked up over these things that have no affect on our own lives we would all be a lot happier. People love to be mad
No effect eh? Kids in sport? Focus on this clownshow when Real Swimming was happening? A very dubious 20.81?
Sure!
Oh, grow up. Kids can be smart in their own right as long as the parenting and coaching is wise.
Maybe you forgot about the part where the glorifying of “enhanced” sport is on display here, for all to see, including our yourh.
I don’t see anyone getting their panties in a twist over bodybuilding or strength sports where they are very openly on PEDs🤷🏻 get your kids off social media if you don’t want them seeing it
So you basically admit that this is something that we should shield our kids from!
There are far more popular public displays of pharmaceutical enhancements that are much more harmful for kids than the enhanced games. One of the biggest streamers in the world’s whole thing is promoting using pharmaceuticals to look better. Any kid who could possibly be influenced by the enhanced games has already been poisoned by that
Sure. There’s a lot of crap in the world. EG is a part of that.
I analyzed the poolside video from instagram
https://x.com/mikeydowd4/status/2058976756644671617?s=46
And?
(I don’t do Twitter / IG.)
I still maintain that if this really was 20.81, most of us would time 20.5-20.6.
The fact that some of us are timing 20.8 means that this was 21-lo!!
From the poolside video it seems to be a 20.8. I cant really verify for sure the video wasnt edited though
Camera video in a program feed, typically has a slight delay. (1-2 seconds). The running clock gets pulled directly from a timing device and is live. Its no surprise when the synch of the two is off.
Cameras using augmented reality technology (lane assignment bars & finishing bars) are slightly delayed in order to sync audio.
I won’t give away Eric’s full identity if he doesn’t want it to be known, but Eric is a very credible voice on the technical specs of this.
Fascinating. I never knew the reason for the delay you typically see, but that makes total sense.