SSPC: James Magnussen on 2011 Scuffle with Russians in 4x100 Free Ready Room

We sat down with world champion and freestyle legend James Magnussen. Mel and I geek out over James not because he's a great swimmer, but because he's a great swimmer that we happened to run into at a music festival in 2016. James was taking a vacation in the US and happened to end up in Austin at the time. Mel spotted him from 50 yards away through a crowd of people, and James was kind enough to take a picture with us. We spend way too long talking about that, but there is a positive that came from that story: James actually went to a Texas practice, without telling anyone, and watched the longhorns swim for nearly an hour before he was asked to leave the pool.

After all that, we get into James' career, and his real breakout meet on the international stage: world championships in 2011. Magnussen tells us that not only did he have pneumonia 2 weeks prior to the meet, but in the ready room for the 4x100 free relay, there was a bit of a scuffle with the Russian team.

Follow James Magnussen and what he's doing now here.

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Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com