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Speaker 1: It's the Summer Olympics in Paris twenty twenty four. There's

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Speaker 1: a swimmer competing that year, Hunter Armstrong, and Hunter does

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Speaker 1: well so well actually one gold, one silver, that his

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Speaker 1: swim sponsor comes to him with news.

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Speaker 2: They told me while I was in Paris that they

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Speaker 2: were going to extend my contract and even give me

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Speaker 2: a raise.

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Speaker 1: It's Hunter's second Olympics and his second gold medal he

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Speaker 1: competed in Tokyo two and so after finding out about

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Speaker 1: his extended contract and pay raise, he figures he's been

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Speaker 1: a pro swimmer for long enough now, and with this

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Speaker 1: new raise.

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Speaker 2: I made a decision to move back to Ohio and

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Speaker 2: build my life as an adult, and so I bought dogs,

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Speaker 2: I bought a house. A month or two after I

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Speaker 2: got back from Paris, I get a call from my

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Speaker 2: agent saying that the company that I was working with

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Speaker 2: decided that they are going to start doing more CrossFit,

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Speaker 2: more like pickleball, and that this partner is not going

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Speaker 2: to work with me anymore. So I went from a

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Speaker 2: figure that was good enough to buy a house to

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Speaker 2: zero in a minute.

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Speaker 1: Whatever's going on with Hunter sponsor, with sports in general,

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Speaker 1: it's not personal, but the reality is he needs the money.

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Speaker 1: And something he's noticed ever since going pro, people can

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Speaker 1: get a bit presumptuous about his job, like the money

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Speaker 1: isn't the point.

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Speaker 2: You're doing it for your country. You're doing it because

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Speaker 2: you really want that gold. And I do love this sport,

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Speaker 2: but it's my job. If my job is not paying,

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Speaker 2: then I'm going to get a different job. I guess

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Speaker 2: people don't really think about professional athletes being.

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Speaker 1: You know, professional, and so Hunter started looking for other

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Speaker 1: ways to make money, and that's when he found out

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Speaker 1: about Enhanced.

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Speaker 3: By the time he found out, his sponsor dropped him,

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Speaker 3: Hunter had already bought that house in Ohio. In fact,

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Speaker 3: the pool he was going to for his daily training

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Speaker 3: was at Ohio State, where he'd gone to college.

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Speaker 2: When I told them that I was even considering the

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Speaker 2: enhanced games, I was told by a coach, I won't

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Speaker 2: say which one. He does not want to see me

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Speaker 2: there until I make a decision, and if that decision

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Speaker 2: is enhanced, then he wants nothing to do with me.

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Speaker 4: How did that make you feel.

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Speaker 3: That's my co producer Lena, by the way, also on this.

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Speaker 2: Call horrible, I mean this was this is my alma mater.

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Speaker 1: Here's the thing about Hunter. Aside from being a pro athlete,

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Speaker 1: he's nothing like any of the other Enhanced Games athletes

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Speaker 1: you've met so far on this show.

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Speaker 3: That's because even.

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Speaker 1: Though Hunter was considering signing with the Enhanced Games, the

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Speaker 1: thing he wasn't considering doing at all was doping.

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Speaker 2: I'd had several sit downs, and I'm like, according to this,

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Speaker 2: I'm not in violation of anything. We're good. But from

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Speaker 2: his side, if I were to have a violation, if

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Speaker 2: I were to get banned, it is against the rules

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Speaker 2: as a coach to train a banned athlete.

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Speaker 3: Last summer, about a month after Enhanced officially announced their

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Speaker 3: plan to host the Games in Vegas. World Aquatics they're

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Speaker 3: the folks in charge of clean swimming and diving at

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Speaker 3: the international level, they added an amendment to their rule

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Speaker 3: book about athlete eligibility.

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Speaker 1: Obviously, if you're a swimmer caught doping, you can't compete

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Speaker 1: in clean sport. For example, the Olympics. Doping equals no Olympics.

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Speaker 2: We know this.

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Speaker 3: What World Aquatics added to the equation are caveats about

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Speaker 3: people benefiting financially from doping.

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Speaker 1: But the new language in the rule book is written

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Speaker 1: with some ambiguity enough so that Hunter and his lawyer

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Speaker 1: think he's got a good case to make for competing

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Speaker 1: and enhanced and remaining in the Olympics pipeline, having his

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Speaker 1: cake and eating it too. Basically, Hunter's point is, as

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Speaker 1: long as he's been a pro swimmer, he's always made

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Speaker 1: himself available for drug testing, and he's never failed a

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Speaker 1: drug test. So even if he participates in enhanced, so

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Speaker 1: long as he remains available to world aquatics for drug tests,

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Speaker 1: he should be able to do both.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I have to tell them where I am

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Speaker 2: every hour of every day, and I've been doing that

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Speaker 2: since twenty twenty and so since I never left their site,

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Speaker 2: that's why we feel that I'm able to do both.

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Speaker 1: For the record, nobody has officially told Hunter he's right

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Speaker 1: on this one. Which is gonna say he hasn't asked.

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Speaker 1: He's asked multiple organizations multiple times.

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Speaker 2: They're all like, I can't give you an answer to that.

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Speaker 2: I feel like nobody wants to be the guy to

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Speaker 2: say it.

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Speaker 3: Hunter is making a calculation, a career gamble. The way

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Speaker 3: he sees it, he's basically out of options. At least

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Speaker 3: this way he's getting paid if he wins his events

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Speaker 3: at the Enhanced Games, he'll make one of the biggest

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Speaker 3: paychecks of his life.

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Speaker 2: If you're gonna ban me, then this is what I

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Speaker 2: have to do to survive. So if I'm known for

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Speaker 2: the rest of my life as a doper, it's fine.

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Speaker 2: I wasn't still am not.

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Speaker 1: There are indications that his argument's going to hold. For instance,

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Speaker 1: I asked Hunter how soon after officially announcing he was

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Speaker 1: going to swim for enhance, did drug tests show up

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Speaker 1: at his front door.

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Speaker 2: I kid you not. Next morning?

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Speaker 1: Wow, say more about that.

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Speaker 2: I hate him so much. They they show up at

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Speaker 2: the most inconvenient times on purpose. I didn't get back

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Speaker 2: to my house until probably three am. They showed up

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Speaker 2: at like five or six.

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Speaker 3: After his coach at Ohio State drew the line at

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Speaker 3: Enhanced Hunter ended up at a local YMCA. He says,

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Speaker 3: the pool there is not great.

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Speaker 2: Plus I do feel horrible when I'm racing next to

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Speaker 2: a sixty year old doing water aerobics. Why oh, I'm

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Speaker 2: splashing them. It's very much like the kid who peaked

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Speaker 2: in high school showing that he's better. Because these guys

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Speaker 2: are just going for fun and to stay healthy, and

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Speaker 2: I feel like their perspective is that I'm putting on

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Speaker 2: a show, Like, hey, guys, look how fast I can swim.

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Speaker 1: The thing is the guy can swim pretty fast. He's

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Speaker 1: a backstroke specialist, and he kind of is putting on

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Speaker 1: a show or he's preparing to anyway. This phone call

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Speaker 1: you're hearing, it's from a couple months ago, the beginning

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Speaker 1: of April.

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Speaker 3: Now fast forward to the third week in Man to

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Speaker 3: a giant and temporary sporting arena on the Las Vegas Strip,

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Speaker 3: and for Hunter Armstrong and every other athlete competing at

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Speaker 3: the Enhanced Games, it's showtime.

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Speaker 1: From Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast. This is Superhuman. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Chris GUYMMI.

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Speaker 3: And I'm Sam Egan.

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Speaker 1: We are in beautiful Las Vegas. It's almost eleven am

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Speaker 1: and already hot as shit. It's the morning of May

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Speaker 1: twenty fourth. Sam, Lena and I are an innuber headed

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Speaker 1: to the Games. In anticipation of the day ahead. Lena

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Speaker 1: and Sam are exchanging sun block for some reason. All

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Speaker 1: three of us are wearing black pants, even though it's

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Speaker 1: ninety five degrees out. Truth is, none of us know

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Speaker 1: how to dress for the doping Olympics.

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Speaker 3: Here we are. It's yeah, what are you saying? It's

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Speaker 3: I mean, be honest, it looks not done hot. It's

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Speaker 3: really hot.

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Speaker 5: Hi, how are you?

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Speaker 3: It's incredibly warm.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna try and cool it on the weather commentary,

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Speaker 1: but it's extremely important to keep in mind that for

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Speaker 1: the entire day, at least one of us is always

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Speaker 1: complaining about the heat.

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Speaker 3: I really don't understand why enhances settled on outside in

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Speaker 3: the desert as the best place to break multiple world

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Speaker 3: records for sports?

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Speaker 4: Can it be makeshift and state of the art at

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Speaker 4: the same time, not a bad way to describe.

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Speaker 3: I think what we're looking at.

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Speaker 1: The layout of the actual competition area is pretty interesting.

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Speaker 1: In the center of it is a four lane pool,

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Speaker 1: there's a one hundred meter track, and then there's like

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Speaker 1: a little elevated platform area where the weightlifters presumably are

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Speaker 1: going to be lifting heavy stuff. A reminder, there aren't

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Speaker 1: any normal fans at the games. You can't just like

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Speaker 1: buy a ticket and fly here to see it. The

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Speaker 1: entire event is invite only, and the venue is packed

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Speaker 1: with influencers, family members of the athletes, businessmen cozying up

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Speaker 1: to Enhanced.

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Speaker 3: When we three are standing in line, waiting to be

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Speaker 3: brought into the actual venue along with other members of

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Speaker 3: the press. A guy walks up to us with two

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Speaker 3: of his buddies. He says, hey, I sell peptides. You

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Speaker 3: want to interview me?

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Speaker 6: It's actually kind of cool, So.

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Speaker 1: Finally we're let in. The side of the venue we're

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Speaker 1: set up on is like if a cruise ship had

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Speaker 1: just stocked there, and there are dozens of small, exposed

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Speaker 1: state rooms overlooking the field and pool accept no walls.

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Speaker 1: The Press is put in one of those rooms, which

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Speaker 1: is nice in some ways. It's stocked with bottles of

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Speaker 1: water and pellegrino. There's shade, electrical outlets, and a ton

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Speaker 1: of food. Fancy food, apercheep cheeses served with cured meats

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Speaker 1: and bean dips.

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Speaker 3: Although because of the heat, the cheeses keep collapsing and

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Speaker 3: melting into each other in the two or so minutes

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Speaker 3: it takes the caterers to bring it to us, which

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Speaker 3: makes it pretty hard to actually eat.

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Speaker 1: The rest of the food is coursed out gaspacho with watermelon,

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Speaker 1: mini lobster rolls, jumbo shrimp, cocktail.

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Speaker 3: Wagu sliders, vegan broughtwurst, and polish sausages.

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Speaker 1: Carnitas and al pastor. There's dim sum, shoe My dumplings,

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Speaker 1: pork buns, and spicy wantons.

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Speaker 3: What we lack in access access to the athletes, to

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Speaker 3: the other attendees at the games, Enhanced makes up for

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Speaker 3: it in catered food, which is to say a lot.

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Speaker 3: At one point, Lena and I leave the press area

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Speaker 3: to walk around a bit before the game starts, just

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Speaker 3: to see who else is there, and we see a guy.

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Speaker 3: Lena thinks she knows, so we walk up. It's all, well,

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Speaker 3: I'm immediately one of Enhanced press team walks over to

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Speaker 3: show us a wedding.

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Speaker 7: I think I have to shut this down. I'm sorry,

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Speaker 7: you're good, I'm sorry.

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Speaker 3: We stand around awkwardly for another ten or so minutes,

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Speaker 3: the press team still watching us. Some of the guests

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Speaker 3: the off limit ones. I recognize them. There's people who

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Speaker 3: work out professionally on TikTok or YouTube, but we're told

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Speaker 3: we're not supposed to talk to them.

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Speaker 4: I feel like I'm a Coachella huh.

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Speaker 3: Finally, we just decided to go back to the press

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Speaker 3: area where we're actually allowed to be.

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Speaker 4: I thought that was Kate McKinnon.

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Speaker 7: I don't know who Kate McKinnon is.

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Speaker 4: Yes, you do. She was on sl for like ten years.

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Speaker 3: I'm not an SNL guy.

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Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I'm not an SNL girl.

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Speaker 7: I'm just aware of the zeitgeist.

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Speaker 3: As I put her around waiting for the games to start,

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Speaker 3: I happen on an influencer that I reckon, and for

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Speaker 3: whatever reason, he's game to talk to. Day Egan, Sammy Egan,

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Speaker 3: Jesse and Jesse James West is a fitness content creator

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Speaker 3: with a few million followers on Instagram. He's standing in

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Speaker 3: the corner of the arena next to the blue carpet.

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Speaker 3: You get it, like red carpet, but blue because that's

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Speaker 3: enhanced color. Jesse's got a camera guy following him and

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Speaker 3: he's holding a loaf mic. So you're obviously not coming from,

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Speaker 3: like I guess, a journalism background. Your market, Okay, this

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Speaker 3: influencers side. I think many journalistic things like this is.

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Speaker 3: Jesse explains he's here for a story he's working on

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Speaker 3: about the enhanced games, specifically about what a good idea

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Speaker 3: it is.

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Speaker 5: When I look for content, when I look for making

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Speaker 5: viral videos. If someone was to say, hey, we have

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Speaker 5: this idea, we can make you an awesome video. If

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Speaker 5: we got a bunch of people that are on gear

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Speaker 5: peptides or steroids to come in and compete, I'd be like,

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Speaker 5: that is the best idea I've ever heard of. Like

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Speaker 5: when it comes to putting your health first, it seems

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Speaker 5: to be the trend, and it's a positive trend.

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Speaker 3: Jesse stops for a second to pull out his phone.

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Speaker 3: He says he's gonna enhanced co founder Christian Ingermyer see

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Speaker 3: where he is. You got Christian's personal number A lot

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Speaker 3: of I think a lot of members of the press don't.

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Speaker 3: I'm getting curious. You know, why do you think the

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Speaker 3: new wave of the press, like the influencer journalism, Why

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Speaker 3: do you think that that is taking over?

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Speaker 5: I think we were and I mean this in no

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Speaker 5: disrespect at all. I think we were quicker. It's so

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Speaker 5: much more. It's so immediate what we can do, Like

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Speaker 5: I'm gonna be posting multiple tiktoks in the next few

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Speaker 5: hours of this event that we'll get a lot of views,

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Speaker 5: and then my long form video will take maximumly two.

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Speaker 3: Weeks, Jesse says. Compared to him pressed like us move

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Speaker 3: like stales, which okay.

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Speaker 5: Finders, I'm not somebody who ever tries to like fuck

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Speaker 5: people over, you know, because it's just gonna hurt the

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Speaker 5: next relationship.

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Speaker 3: What he means is he's not trying to fuck over

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Speaker 3: Enhanced by reporting anything negative about because that'll make it

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Speaker 3: harder for him to report on other people. Enhanced is

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Speaker 3: at all connected to and look in my regular life,

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Speaker 3: where I'm just a guy out on a Saturday grab

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Speaker 3: drinks of friends. Also, I don't try to be overly probing,

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Speaker 3: not because it'll make my friends dislike me. More like,

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Speaker 3: I just think things go better in the world when

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Speaker 3: none of us are intentionally being dicked. But that's not

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Speaker 3: what journalists.

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Speaker 5: We have algorithms that if we figure.

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Speaker 3: It out anyway. At this moment, Jesse pulls away from me.

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Speaker 3: Christian Anger Myers just arrived at Jesse Summer. I just

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Speaker 3: got bumped out of the way for this influencer of

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Speaker 3: the interview, Christian anger Meyer. They talk for maybe twenty minutes.

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Speaker 3: When I ask Christians Handlers for my turn with him,

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Speaker 3: they tell me I can have five. He's the same

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Speaker 3: old Christian basically saying to me the same things he's

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Speaker 3: told me before. You What do you think is necessary

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Speaker 3: to define today as a success? What do you what

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Speaker 3: do you think needs to happen out there?

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Speaker 6: We have to break world records, and I think we will.

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Speaker 6: My guess is like two to five, two to four

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Speaker 6: world records.

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Speaker 3: There's another metrics by which Christian measure success.

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Speaker 6: It's how many sort of fuse we have in socialist

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Speaker 6: or whatever, and it's going in the billions. So and

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Speaker 6: that's what I would have told you two weeks ago.

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Speaker 6: I'm maybe happy, even because we spoke before that. I

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Speaker 6: think I will be very happy if all in all

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Speaker 6: we have like a billion fuse and I think we

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Speaker 6: have that already before the game, So that's gonna That's

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Speaker 6: why I'm happy.

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Speaker 3: If even half of the guests invited have a following

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Speaker 3: close to Jesse's the influence wer I was just talking to,

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Speaker 3: then I guess, yeah, Christian might get his billion views.

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Speaker 3: It's a bit of a challenge to fact check, of course,

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Speaker 3: but those billion views they underline something you really wouldn't

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Speaker 3: know unless you're there at the games, which is that

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Speaker 3: for the rest of the day, the stands are kind

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Speaker 3: of empty. Maybe it's the heat or the free drinks

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Speaker 3: and food, but until we leave it around midnight, one

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Speaker 3: thing remains true. There's more people mingling behind the stadium

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Speaker 3: than actually watching the games. Still, inevitably, the games begin

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Speaker 3: across three different categories, weightlifting, track and swimming. For the

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Speaker 3: first stretch, it's weightlifting women snatch. One by one, athletes

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Speaker 3: walk up onto a very sunny stage, squat down and

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Speaker 3: grip the loaded barboe.

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Speaker 5: Wow, she's got it, she's got a fight, she's got

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Speaker 5: a fight, she's up.

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Speaker 2: Oh great attempt.

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Speaker 3: Nobody comes close to breaking a world record. Weightlifter after

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Speaker 3: weightlifter comes on stage.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, oh oh wow, surprising, very surprising.

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Speaker 3: What went wrong? Actually, only a few even try to

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Speaker 3: break world records. There are some personal bests and plenty

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Speaker 3: of prize money won, because remember, athletes get paid up

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Speaker 3: to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for coming in

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Speaker 3: first and fifty thousand dollars for placing fourth. So plenty

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Speaker 3: of happy weightlifters and swimmers and track stars. But world records,

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Speaker 3: world records, there are not.

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Speaker 5: He's so close, the defeat is so painful.

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Speaker 3: On the jumbo screen above the stage, each athlete's performance

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Speaker 3: is presented the same way, their name, their personal best,

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Speaker 3: and the world record.

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Speaker 4: I will say my opinion is that because they keep

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Speaker 4: projecting what the world record is. Seeing someone that you

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Speaker 4: know is on drugs not coming close to it kind

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Speaker 4: of makes me feel like, oh, that's extra unimpressive.

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Speaker 1: As the day beats on something that, to be honest,

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Speaker 1: we're really not expecting starts to happen. Hunter Armstrong, the

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Speaker 1: enhanced swimmer who isn't enhanced. He's on the edge of

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Speaker 1: the pool ready to dive in for the fifty meters

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Speaker 1: back show, competing against swimmers who are enhanced.

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Speaker 3: Hunter one.

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Speaker 1: The athletes who haven't dope keep eating the athletes who have,

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Speaker 1: and it keeps happening, Like at the women's one hundred

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Speaker 1: meter sprint, what it means for her a non enhanced athlete,

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Speaker 1: second non enhanced athlete we've seen win in these events,

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Speaker 1: and at the men's one hundred meter sprint, unenhanced athletes

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Speaker 1: keep taking the top.

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Speaker 3: This is it, ladies and gentlemen, this is a moment.

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Speaker 3: Quite literally, we have all been waiting.

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Speaker 2: For one of them.

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Speaker 1: Fred Curley. Folks actually are expecting him to win, maybe

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Speaker 1: even beat the world record.

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Speaker 2: Wait, Fred Curly.

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Speaker 1: But when it's time for his race and false starts

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Speaker 1: keep forcing him and the other runners to start over again.

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Speaker 3: It's a false start. Second time, another false start.

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Speaker 7: Frustration is beauty.

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Speaker 1: In total, it took three tries to actually complete the sprint, and.

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Speaker 7: It's a clean start.

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Speaker 3: Curly Matati in two and four coming down the stretch, Curly, it's.

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Speaker 7: Gonna take it.

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Speaker 2: And Curly's gonna come in with a time up at

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Speaker 2: nine point.

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Speaker 1: Nine eight, and Curly did win.

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Speaker 3: Not the results that he was looking for in terms

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Speaker 3: of the time, but the outcome in terms of his

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Speaker 3: placement is.

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Speaker 1: Still the same, which means he walked away two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 2: Richard, will you look disappointed?

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Speaker 6: You saw that, A lot of false stars, a lot

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Speaker 6: of jumping.

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Speaker 3: They gotta do better than that.

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Speaker 1: Do you think if it would have gone our first

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Speaker 1: time you could have had a shot.

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Speaker 3: I'm ready to run five, but no world record. And

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Speaker 3: Megan Romana, who came out of retirement to compete in

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Speaker 3: the Games, God, Meghan looks fucking shreddedy. She wins one

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Speaker 3: of her races, the one hundred meter free.

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Speaker 1: Meghan, congratulations the winner of that race. Two hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars.

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Speaker 6: You are raised.

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Speaker 1: I mean, looking at Shaite, she's in it.

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Speaker 3: Was a personal best for Megan and after ten years

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Speaker 3: of retirement. Really impressive. I mean, but it certainly wasn't

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Speaker 3: a world record.

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Speaker 1: In the fifty meters butterfly, a race that includes Andre

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Speaker 1: Govra from Ukraine and Ben Proud from the UK.

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Speaker 2: Oh so close, I thought he had it.

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Speaker 3: What a bizarre race.

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Speaker 1: Ben Proud does swim at twenty two point three to

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Speaker 1: two point zero five seconds, shy of the world record,

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Speaker 1: which does make him two hundred and fifty thousand dollars richer,

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00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:26,440
Speaker 1: Still no world record. In the late afternoon, the biohacker

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00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 1: Brian Johnson slides into the commentary booth, holding up an

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Speaker 1: umbrella to block the sun. Enhanced CEO Max Martin posts

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Speaker 1: a photo to his Instagram stories of him and the

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Speaker 1: DJ Diplow hanging out in one of the suites, but

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Speaker 1: front and center on the track in the pool by

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Speaker 1: the waits. They can't seem to break a world record.

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Speaker 1: Not that the influencers seem to care. Throughout the day,

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Speaker 1: they walk around making content. Very little of that content

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Speaker 1: features the enhanced games. It's more like content of the

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Speaker 1: influencers who happen to be at the enhanced games. It

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Speaker 1: you know, those museums of ice cream, which pop up

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Speaker 1: all over America, specifically so people can go and take

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Speaker 1: pictures to put on Instagram in a pool of sprinkles

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Speaker 1: or inside an ice cream sandwich. The Enhanced games are

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Speaker 1: like a museum of ice cream, except instead of a

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Speaker 1: pool of sprinkles, it's a pool of Olympians.

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Speaker 3: My favorite moment when a group of teen boys wanders

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Speaker 3: into the center of the arena by the pool and

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Speaker 3: film each other laughing and dancing like they're in the

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Speaker 3: video game Fortnite. Well, a literal swim race is held

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Speaker 3: of these are safe, they really are, like, they really

401
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:39,840
Speaker 3: are so young. Lookod they have like five DSLRs.

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Speaker 1: These teens, their presence makes for some pretty powerful cognitive dissonance.

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00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 2: Let's say, yeah it, get it.

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00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,640
Speaker 1: What Enhanced is literally selling is the promise to wash

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00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 1: millennials like myself that we too can feel ten years

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Speaker 1: younger if we buy their products. This coterie of influencers

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00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,919
Speaker 1: who haven't yet woken up with lower back pain feels

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00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: I don't know, tonally off, or maybe the point is

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00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 1: buy our shit and you two can hang like these

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Speaker 1: teens at the same time. This whole time, The whole

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Speaker 1: point of this is to break world records. Christian told

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Speaker 1: us so this morning, and six months ago and last year.

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Speaker 3: The hours tick on, athletes make their entrance, and each

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00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:32,320
Speaker 3: event is over in a few TikTok friendly seconds, and

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00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:37,520
Speaker 3: still no world records. When the sun finally starts to fall,

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00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,960
Speaker 3: I have a thought. Did Enhance bamboozle us into doing

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00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,159
Speaker 3: them a favor? Are we just instruments for drumming up attention,

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00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,040
Speaker 3: no different than those zoomer influencers dancing pool side.

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Speaker 1: Finally, it's time for the last event, the big one,

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Speaker 1: the men's fifty meter freestyle, one lap across the pool.

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Speaker 1: It'll be a four horse race between Ben Proud, Anjigovrov,

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Speaker 1: James Magnuson, and the guy who already broke this exact record,

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Speaker 1: at least according to enhanced one year ago, Christian Golamif

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00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: the tension in the air is palpable, it feels like

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00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 1: we're about to find out if this whole thing is

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00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,240
Speaker 1: a total flop or if there really is something to

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00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:22,200
Speaker 1: this whole Enhance thing.

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Speaker 7: Nope, I got one.

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Speaker 3: Christian golamof twenty point eight one seconds. He beat the

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Speaker 3: world record by point oh seven seconds. They did it

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Speaker 3: after six hours in the desert and many millions of

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Speaker 3: dollars spent here. It is the one world record for

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Speaker 3: some reason. A bunch of red lights pulsate throughout the arena,

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00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 3: like we've all been playing Call of Duty and I've

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00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,880
Speaker 3: taken too much damage. Swim coach Brett Hawk jumps into

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Speaker 3: the pool. So does the Mountain from Game of Thrones,

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Speaker 3: who tried and failed to break the deadlift record earlier tonight.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, they did it, didn't they does? A guy

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00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 3: who just jumped up back to the Bulgarian flag.

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Speaker 1: From the corner of my eye, I see Ben Proud

441
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: and can help but think about how hard this guy

442
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 1: has worked his whole life. I think about his spreadsheets

443
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,399
Speaker 1: design to track his entire body, his commitments. Is sleeping alone,

444
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 1: even though he's in a committed relationship. To get the

445
00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: best leap possible. He spent years hold up in hotel

446
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,399
Speaker 1: rooms playing games on his phone until it's time to

447
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:51,680
Speaker 1: go back to swim practice. Tonight is just not his night.

448
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,360
Speaker 1: Now he's standing off to the side holding his girlfriend,

449
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: Emily Barclay. She's also part of Enhanced and still wearing

450
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,959
Speaker 1: her swimsuit, and they just stand there like that hugging.

451
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 1: It doesn't look like they're saying anything to each other.

452
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,920
Speaker 1: Maybe there isn't anything to say.

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00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,520
Speaker 3: This morning, when Chris, Lena and I were ubering over

454
00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 3: to the Games, our driver asked us what we were

455
00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 3: in town for the Enhanced Games. We said, haven't heard

456
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,879
Speaker 3: of it, she responded. Then she said, but you know

457
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 3: what else is happening tonight. BTS is playing. Everyone in

458
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:31,719
Speaker 3: Vegas they're here to see BTS. BTS. If you don't know,

459
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 3: they're a K pop group, one of the most famous

460
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 3: music groups in the world.

461
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: If you don't know BTS, you might know The Killers.

462
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,399
Speaker 1: Their song mister Brightside was really popular back in two

463
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 1: thousand and four when their debut album came out. These days,

464
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,480
Speaker 1: you can hear mister Bright's Side at every single wedding

465
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 1: reception towards the end of the night, when everyone's starting

466
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: to get a little tired.

467
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 3: The Killers play towards the end of the night at

468
00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:01,840
Speaker 3: the Enhanced Games too. Literally. The band is from Vegas

469
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 3: and they perform a mini set on the enhanced stage.

470
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,919
Speaker 3: The bleachers are really thinned out at this point, but

471
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:09,919
Speaker 3: the athletes, the older ones anyway, they seem to be

472
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 3: enjoying it. The band opens with mister Branson.

473
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,199
Speaker 1: You know those very rare, full moons that take up

474
00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,000
Speaker 1: much more sky than seems reasonable. Like you look out

475
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:33,720
Speaker 1: and most of what you see is the moon, a

476
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: giant bright orb, reminding you how small you are. Well,

477
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 1: just beyond the killers is the Las Vegas sphere, that

478
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 1: multi billion dollar totem to our high tech now and

479
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: the way it's framing the stadium. I don't know what

480
00:26:48,280 --> 00:27:00,919
Speaker 1: else to compare it to. I want to go back

481
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: to Hunter Armstrong, the enhanced swimmer who didn't dope. Also

482
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: the enhanced swimmer who all told made three hundred and

483
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: seventy five thousand dollars.

484
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:15,879
Speaker 2: Today, I'd say that the top end male athletes contract

485
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 2: I've made close to, if not matched, their best deals

486
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:23,440
Speaker 2: this year.

487
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: When Hunter finished his second and final race at the

488
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: Enhanced Games, he was brought backstage by an enhanced executive.

489
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:31,640
Speaker 1: His name is Rick.

490
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:35,120
Speaker 2: As soon as I was done, I was taken through

491
00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:37,639
Speaker 2: a little bit of media and Rick met me and

492
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:43,440
Speaker 2: he's like, hey, go pie in a cup, Mike, gotcha?

493
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, the drug testers from WATA, they were there

494
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:49,359
Speaker 1: that day watching Hunter compete.

495
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 2: Hopefully they enjoyed the show.

496
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,640
Speaker 1: And they'd been testing him all weekend too.

497
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:56,480
Speaker 2: I had four total tests while I was in Vegas,

498
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 2: so I think I had three tests within thirty two hours.

499
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 2: And then I competed and they tested me at the complex.

500
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:10,760
Speaker 1: Which Hunter says totally annoying, but also that's just how

501
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: it goes. He's used to it. I remember something Hunter

502
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 1: told me the first time we talked a few months

503
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,720
Speaker 1: ago before he'd committed to Enhance, but after that sponsor

504
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 1: dropped him, he was going back and forth on next

505
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: steps for making money. He thought maybe he could teach

506
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 1: swim clinics, teach new swimmers skills and techniques, but his

507
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,800
Speaker 1: fear was that pretty quickly the next generation of late

508
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,400
Speaker 1: swimmers are going to come for him for his job.

509
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 2: If I'm not actively competing, my relevance will go down,

510
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 2: and so eventually I'm going to lose that opportunity anyway.

511
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 2: But if I join Enhanced, maybe I'll have more longevity.

512
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: Long Jeff, that word. I think this is literally the

513
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 1: only time I've heard someone use it in the context

514
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 1: of Enhanced without meaning like turning back a clock, reverse aging.

515
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: Longevity In my career, all encapsulating, so my longevity, as relevancy,

516
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:23,000
Speaker 2: my identity as a swimmer.

517
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: All of which funnel into something much more important to

518
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: Hunter than swimming. Just like we've heard from the other

519
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:35,000
Speaker 1: athletes Megan andre Ben, Proud, Hunter just wants to know

520
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 1: even if he's chosen a career with an expiration date,

521
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: he can still be okay in the long run.

522
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 2: Because I swear to you the day that I retire,

523
00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 2: I'm not making any more Instagram posts, I'm not doing vlogs.

524
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,959
Speaker 2: I just want to live my small town life with

525
00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 2: the white picket fence and have it is running on

526
00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:01,120
Speaker 2: the backyard.

527
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 1: Superhuman is a Kaleidoscope production in partnership with iHeart Podcast.

528
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 1: The series is produced, reported, and co hosted by Sammy Egan.

529
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: Then Mstis Medal is our senior producer. Production support from

530
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:38,080
Speaker 1: Dara luck Potts, edited by Kate Osborne, editorial consulting by

531
00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 1: Adisa Egan, original composition and mixing by Hannis Brown, Reported

532
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,880
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Chris Guy Molly from Kaleidoscope. Our

533
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: executive producers are Kate Osborne, Ozwa Lashin, Mangeshatikador, and Kosislinos.

534
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 1: Julian Nutter is the head of Studio for Kaleidoscope and

535
00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 1: From My Heart. Our executive producers are Katrina Norvil and

536
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 1: Nikki Etor BacT checking by Lina Shang, Engineering by Mitch

537
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 1: Lee and Zoltan Sindhu. If you like what you're hearing,

538
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 1: subscribe to the feed now so you don't miss our

539
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:10,640
Speaker 1: next straw